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Wickham Community Land Trust
Latest news
Getting to Net Zero …and reducing energy bills
In summer 2025, Wickham Community Land Trust completed retrofitting thirty-two solar panels on four residents’ homes in Houghton Gardens at a total cost of £35,000.
Each family now has eight solar panels and a 5kW storage battery to reduce their dependence on the grid, to heat their hot water and to help them sell unused electricity back to their power provider.
This was a complicated project as each home had two existing embedded hot water heating panels which had to be removed and the roof relaid, before the new photovoltaic (PV) panels and batteries could be installed. Those hot water heating panels had been installed in 2012 when the homes were built, but were no longer operating well at two of the properties and were becoming a maintenance liability. It was therefore clear to us that investing for the future, by installing PV and batteries, would improve residents’ lives. Also, it would contribute to Winchester District’s net zero energy goal.
Thanks to the sunny weather since the installation was completed in May, the panels worked overtime in reducing the amount of energy imported from the grid over the summer to just a few kWh. The properties are well-insulated by design, so this will make a significant difference to residents’ energy costs. Over the lifetime of the PV panels, we calculate that the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from these properties could reduce by up to 80%.
Resident feedback has been very positive: As for the solar system, it is amazing —
we have noticed the difference already compared to previous months’ bills. Very much appreciated from you
guys at the Land Trust.
Hedge Planting at Houghton Gardens
This picture shows the
new hedging that had just been planted at Houghton Gardens, in Spring 2025, using largely native species
such as
hawthorn, field maple, blackthorn and some others.
This follows on from the successful wildflower planting along the footpath undertaken by local residents.
Wildflower Planting At Houghton Gardens
In mid-April 2023,
with the support of Hyde Housing and funding from Hyde’s contractors
Acorn, and from Wickham Community Land Trust,
local residents of Houghton Gardens spent two days creating new spaces for wildflowers around Houghton Gardens.
The pictures show (left) "Mixing The Seed" and (right) "One Bed Prepared, Two More To Go".
This project has been planned for a long time and the results will contribute immensely to the amenity of Houghton Gardens and Mill Lane, which form part of the village envelope, bordering open countryside.
Open Days
Wickham CLT held two open days in January 2023 at one of our new 2-bed properties
on Wykeham Vale, Wickham. Board members were present to explain more about the work
of the Trust and how it is now possible to support our work through
Friends of Wickham CLT (FoWCLT).
The first open day was directed at local residents to show them the quality of the new homes, ask questions and learn more about how they can support our work. The second was for our funders and civic leaders from district and local councils. We received great financial support from Winchester City Council, South Downs National Park and local donors, especially the Warwick family, that enabled us to make the purchases possible by keeping commercial loans to a manageable level.
The Hampshire Chronicle described the events in an online article.
Our January 2023 Project
We completed purchase of our second tranche of Wykeham Vale homes on Friday 13 Jan 2023. Thus, another five new properties became available for rental. These have all been successfully allocated. See our What We Provide page for some details.
