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OWCH SCHEME FINALLY WINS PLANNING PERMISSION 9 APRIL 2024

Rejoice with OWCH!  Celebrate a major milestone! Be amazed at the sticking power through thick and thin of a group of determined older women!

Barnet Council has given the Older Women’s Cohousing Company (OWCH) a green light to get on with developing our (now) 25 flat, mixed-tenure project in Union St. High Barnet. The site, adjacent to the High Street, local amenities and transport routes, is the best site we have ever encountered.  We anticipate that we will see final completion by late 2015 or early 2016. This is still a long haul - but at least there will be some action!  We have every chance now of being the very first senior cohousing community in the UK, setting a trail for others to follow, and vindicating the long, long journey we as a group have had to make to determine our own lives and structure our own futures.

The story goes like this - OWCH members (see picture above) who trekked up to Hendon Town Hall for the Planning Committee meeting on April 9, were sitting on the edge of their chairs, holding their breath, hoping against hope that we would finally achieve the planning permission we have been awaiting for three long years. Would the councillors see that this is the greatest ‘no-brainer’ ever for older people and the model that would bring the nation’s press to their doors?

Some of the councillors had clearly seen our recent television exposure. They had also been given a tour of the Union St. site the day before. What clinched the argument – and here one could hear a collective sigh of sheer relief from OWCH women – was a woman councillor coming out strongly in support of us. She cited the interest expressed in the project by the local MP, Teresa Villiers, who has been a welcome ally, and that of the Director of People, Kate Kennally, who had given a strong statement of support. Describing our plans for a mutually supportive environment as the best idea she had heard for a long time, Cllr. Perry declared herself a possible future candidate for the cohousing community.

The committee voted in favour of our application and there was instant, jubilant acclaim from OWCH – who have been through so many disappointments, lost several sites, suffered from the transient interest of countless housing associations. In contrast, Housing for Women, a small specialist association, has proved itself our stalwart ally right from the beginning, and will now be landlord for the social rental flats. Hanover Housing Association, our developer, has had the vision to commit to OWCH and to stick by us. Our architects, Pollard, Thomas, Edwards, have been wonderfully helpful as we worked with them on the design. Our planning consultants from Savills have achieved miracles on our behalf.  The three years of solid teamwork since purchase of the site has finally brought results.

OWCH itself has soldiered on through many years - carefully building group solidarity and shared understandings, working on agreed policies, recruiting new members, arranging social events and caring for each other. We can claim to have made a very good job of developing the ‘social capital’ of the group – that crucial element, a sense of community, that is all too often taken for granted, assumed to ignite spontaneously just from being under one roof but sadly absent from very many collective arrangements for older people. This, we would argue, is the very special ‘USP’ (unique selling point, in today’s parlance) that we as a group have to offer the vast range of organisations that profess to ‘empower older people’ and to other older people themselves. Our starting point as a group is that we don’t like ‘being done unto’, but take our own decisions; we recognise the strengths we have when we work in concert with other older women; we will make our cohousing community work as long as we have a building to finally move into. Our group, currently spanning an age-range from mid-fifties to 83 years, is ready to move in tomorrow.

3D Visual of the CoHousing Project in Barnet + architects plans of the flats

Practical information for women interested in the OWCH project

The planning permission clears the way for next steps which will take a minimum of two years before anyone can move in. Most of the flats are for sale and purchase values are under negotiation. We hope before long to have clear, fixed prices per flat. There are no flats for private rental, contrary to some press information. We have some social rental flats available for women who meet eligibility conditions for council or housing association accommodation. Secure tenancies will be available. Social rental tenants will be fully part of the cohousing community and take part in decision-making along with everyone else.

As is clear on other parts of the website, membership of OWCH requires attendance at meetings to get to know the group and sign up to its values. A waiting pool will be maintained by the group for the two tenures and for different flat sizes, so that any sudden vacancy could be filled by someone already familiar with OWCH and known to the group.

PAST HISTORY
It was our decision to live in an adult-only community but another option for older people is family-based cohousing. There is a small but growing number of cohousing communities throughout the country that cater for both families and individuals and you can find information about these on the UK Cohousing Network’s website: www.cohousing.org.uk.

We also decided from the start that we would be a group for older women. This is because we are very conscious that it is older women who are most likely to be alone in later life, usually through widowhood or divorce – 60% of women over the age of 75 live alone. We also tend to lack financial security and to live quite long lives. Sadly, isolation and lack of stimulus can lead to health problems for some and an earlier need for care. We want to prevent such problems for as long as possible and to support each other in the every-day ups and downs of growing old - staying active and healthy for as long as we can.

It is one of our strongly held principles that we should include women who need affordable rents as well as women who own or part-own their homes, without distinction. Eligibility for the social rental accommodation in our cohousing community will of course be subject to Barnet Council’s requirements as well as to the OWCH group’s membership requirements.

Residents also have to be members of OWCH, take a share of responsibility for the group and support its key values. (Membership of OWCH does not convey automatic entitlement to a residential unit).

If you are reading this because you have begun to think about your future as a lone older woman, get in touch with us; details are on our contact page.