Let's create a new
Land-Based Community
here in South Hams...
For all those in and around Totnes feeling the call back to the land, we’re developing a proposal for a one-planet community that combines affordable homes, low-impact living, regenerative agriculture, and integrated nature-recovery. It all about restoring people to the land in a way that's great for both humans and nature.
Come along to our weekly drop-in meetings, every Thursday 11am - 1pm, at Bruto Lounge, The Plains, Totnes.
What's being proposed?
We're envisaging a 15-household land-based community on 40 to 50 acres, designed as an integrated system: low-impact homes, shared infrastructure, food-growing, livelihoods, agri-wilding, and community-led governance all working together.
Each household would have a modest private dwelling on a small plot, embedded within shared land, shared facilities, and shared systems. The wider land would support agroecology, agroforestry, and nature-recovery, regenerating soils and increasing biodiversity.
The project would create land-based livelihoods and seek to foster a culture of co-operation, skill-sharing, and mutual aid amongst residents and also with the wider Totnes community.
Affordable natural homes
Beautiful, nature-inspired, straw‑bale eco-homes with green roofs, light footprints, and low running costs. No rent and buy‑in starting at £0 make healthy, secure housing accessible to people from all backgrounds.
Slow, connected living
Slow living rich in nature interactions and social integration, made possible through careful community design, shared facilities, and a culture of connection—plus universal basic services and income for all residents.
A return to land & skills
Nature-embedded lifestyles rooted in the land and seasons foster a sense of belonging to the wider web. A range of land-based skills and crafts restored to their natural context: our daily lives through the turning year.
Food security close to home
A diverse mosaic of forest gardens, vegetable gardens and small-scale field-systems supply abundant, fresh, seasonal diets from the ground beneath our feet. Our aim is 60-80% food sovereignty from the land.
Sufficiency & luxury
Modest private homes and neo-peasant lifestyles combined with extensive shared facilities and services financed through community-run enterprises to create lives of personal sufficiency and communal luxury.
Inclusivity, rooted in place
Deep inclusivity commitments, equal ownership, non-hierarchal governance, and a pro-active approach to social cohesion, all supported by reciprocal relationship with the land and the wider local community.
How is this different from other projects?
A lot of well-intentioned land-based community projects struggle or fail due to lack of clarity and coherence, financial issues, and group burnout. To avoid these pitfalls, this project is being developed with a carefully structured approach, including a detailed community design, organisational support, and a robust ownership and governance pathway.
Key differences include:
- A specific, well-formulated design: This is not a vague 'let's co-create it from scratch' invitation. It's a clear, detailed design and roadmap that people can understand from the outset. There's no ambiguity about what we're trying to create or how we plan to proceed.
- A structured ownership model: We'll avoid the common trap of one person owning the land and others living as tenants. Our proposal sets out a pathway involving fully collective ownership underpinned by robust legal and governance structures.
- A coherent vision from the beginning: Many projects disintegrate because groups form around a broad values-led vision and then a little way along the road people start to differ in the details of what they actually want, leading to factions pulling in different directions and no-one getting what they want. Our approach prioritises clarity from the start to foster momentum and long-term stability.
A trade-off of this more structured approach is that there is less creative freedom, which will definitely put some people off. But, if it increases the likelihood of success, we hope most people will see that such a trade-off is ultimately worth it.
Key Questions
Why Totnes?
As we know, Totnes is a vibrant hub of knowledge and practical skills in regenerative practice, with pioneering individuals and organisations working in agroecology, agroforestry, bioregionalism, transition culture, local resilience and so much more. This project seeks to partner with and build upon this rich local ecosystem and contribute to it ongoing evolution.
Why now?
It’s becoming clearer every day: climate and biodiversity breakdown, rising living costs, and deepening food and energy insecurity are making local resilience an urgent necessity. At the same time, there's increasing demand from people who want to adopt genuinely low-impact, one-planet ways of living, but who struggle to find opportunities to do so. We want to help create such opportunities, and in so doing to strengthen local resilience.
Is this really needed?
The development we're proposing responds directly to many of the intersecting crises of our times in a deeply integrated way. It brings together genuinely affordable low-impact housing, land-based livelihoods, community-led agro-ecological food production, nature recovery, and participatory governance — all in one coherent package. Whether you're thinking in terms of collapse mitigation or adaptation, these kind of developments make a whole heap of sense. We're not really sure why there aren't already thousands of them happening all across the UK, but since there aren't, let's start to change that now!
What about planning permission?
Rather than try to squeeze this project into existing policy frameworks, we aim instead to inspire policy innovation through demonstrating a robustly viable model of land-based sustainable development that both meets clear local demand and aligns closely with many of the local authority’s strategic goals. Our proposal presents an opportunity for South Hams District Council to establish best-practice guidelines for low-impact community developments, potentially creating a replicable planning pathway for similar developments across the region and beyond. This could position the Council as a leader in sustainable planning policy at a time when multiple intersecting crises demand innovative approaches.
Weekly drop-in meetings, every Thursday morning 11am - 1pm, at Bruto Lounge, The Plains, Totnes
Drop in any time to learn more about the proposal, connect with others, and get involved. You'll find us downstairs somewhere at the back of the lounge.
Progress so far
We’re still at an early stage with this project. So far, we’ve a crafted a detailed community design and governance model, and started building relationships with the council and some local organisations. With the recent launch of our weekly drop-in meetings, we aim to start gathering more momentum over the coming months.
Next steps
Community engagement
We need to show the council that there's strong local backing for this proposal, so we're inviting feedback from the community to gauge levels of support, concerns and objections.
Core group formation
We're forming a core group to move this project forward – potential residents, as well as anyone else with relevant skills and time who would like to support what we're trying to create.
Partnership building
We're looking to connect and collaborate with local organisations to develop partnerships, strengthen accountability, and integrate the project into the rich local ecosystem.
Ready to get involved?
It takes a village to make a village! If you like the sound of what we're working to create, please join in to help make it happen.
Register your support
Please add your name to our growing list of supporters.
Provide feedback
Whether you're in full support and can't wait to become a resident, or you have concerns and objections you'd like to express, we'd love to hear your thoughts. The more perspectives we receive, the stronger our proposal can become. Hit the button below to open a detailed feedback form.
Join us on Thursday
If you'd like to find out more about the proposal, meet the current core group, explore becoming a resident, offer support or chat to us about partnering, our Thursday Morning drop-in sessions are the best place to do all of that. Alternatively, drop us an email to [email protected].
