Community Land Trust - Burnley, Lancashire - Est. 2026
We buy back Burnley's empty shopfronts and mills and hand them to the people who'll actually use them - makers, artists and small businesses who've been priced out or locked out. Community-owned. Rent capped. Built to last.
Burnley spun cotton for the world. It's still got the buildings, the bones and the graft - what it's short of is affordable room to make and create. We're putting empty floors back to work.
What we're aiming for in year one
Current & upcoming sites
Every site we take on gets a plot reference, same as it would on a land registry entry - because that's exactly what it is: land, held in trust, for the town.
A single-storey weaving shed with double-height ceilings and north-facing sawtooth roof lights, being split into fourteen studios for makers and small manufacturers.
The old engine house beside the Leeds & Liverpool Canal towpath. We're assessing it now for a shared workshop and an open materials library.
A cobbled mill yard and three-storey warehouse tucked behind Yorkshire Street, earmarked for ground-floor shopfronts and studios above.
Four floors of a working mill, half still in light manufacturing. Ground-floor units are set aside for local retail and food producers.
Two tracks, one trust
Whether you make things or sell things, the trust is set up to get you into a building faster and cheaper than the open market ever would.
Where we are
We're a new organisation - here's the order things are actually happening in, not a wishlist.
Registered as a community benefit society, owned and directed by its members rather than shareholders.
Twelve vacant buildings and shopfronts across the town assessed for structure, cost and use.
The Weaving Shed opens for studio applications - the trust's first working site.
The first makers and businesses take up space, and the trust's member council holds its first vote.
Restoration starts on The Yard and The Engine House.
Get involved
Whoever you are, there's a way to be part of putting Burnley's empty buildings back to work.
Become a member. Apply for a studio, workshop bench or a spot on the materials library waiting list.
Apply for space →Register interest in a retail or workshop unit and get first look before it's listed.
Register a business →Talk to us about grants, loans and partnerships that help buy the next building.
Start a conversation →