[Scpg] Transition Town has a way to create homesteads aka "land co-operatives"

[Ahcros at aol.com]

Linda and Friends,
The Transition Town movement has created a legal structure called a 
"Community Interest Company" that could be used to transfer property into 
co-operative status, create permaculture homesteads, and thus give access to land.   
 
A CIC can be "for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other 
activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage. This 
is achieved by a 'community interest test' and  an 'asset lock', which 
ensure that the CIC is established for community purposes and the assets and 
profits are dedicated to these purposes."  
 
The way I see it, a CIC could be used to create stable and long-lasting 
permactulture homesteads!  This is exactly what we want to encourage.  So a CIC 
could be used by older folks who have land, as a vehicle to transfer their 
properties into co-ops that benefit a younger generation -- those with the 
vision and strength to make permaculture homesteads happen.   

 
I really think that we could try to light a fire as to the legal advantages 
of a CIC.  Right now, apparently it is a legal structure only in England.  
We would have to get our own US version of a CIC to get these benefits (see 
the URL below). 
Can we ask Paul Edwards to address this issue in his upcoming talk, 
including 1) the CIC as a co-operative that fosters inter-generational transfer of 
property and 2) the possibility of CIC's for our country?  Can we move this 
forward in our local permaculture efforts?   
For those permies who don't yet have access to land, this could be pretty 
important. 
Thanks, 
Ann Crosby 
967-6755  
PS: Find more info at 
_http://www.cicregulator.gov.uk/Leaflets/CICBenefits.pdf_ (http://www.cicregulator.gov.uk/Leaflets/CICBenefits.pdf) 
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