New Ground Cohousing

This pioneering group, which began meeting in 1998, is now resident in a 25 unit environmentally friendly cohousing scheme in High Barnet, London. Planning permission was granted to Hanover Housing, the group’s developer, in April 2013. OWCH is restricted to women aged 50 and over and will have mixed tenure (some social rentals) and individual, self-contained flats with communal facilities and activities.
Applicants for the community, which will be self-sustaining and self-managed, will be selected from a waiting pool of those who play an active part and also regularly attend monthly meetings prior to residency. Members are responsible for forming policies, undertaking shared tasks and actively participating in communal activities, thus showing that they are committed to sharing the group’s values.
In this community all women will have an equal voice and will be welcomed equally irrespective of ethnicity, class, religion, political persuasion, sexual orientation and physical ability. This non-hierarchical living group hopes to enhance the wellbeing of older women through co-operation, friendship and mutual support, while remaining active members of the wider community.