Fran Ryan
fran@oclt.org.uk

Many Friends will remember Tony Crofts who was a member at Oxford Meeting for many years from the 80s to the 00s. We are publishing this tribute from Fran Ryan about Tony’s innovative and inspirational work in housing in Oxfordshire and Bristol – work that has been supported by many Quakers and continues locally in the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust (OCLT): 

I am sorry to say that my friend and OCLT founder member Tony Crofts died in Bristol on 3 February 2021. Tony leaves behind an impressive legacy of projects that show what can be done with determination and a good smattering of audacity. 

Tony’s greatest achievement was probably setting up one of the first community land trusts in the country in 1983 by gifting a small piece of land to his local community in Stonesfield for affordable housing. This developed into Stonesfield Community Land Trust which (with further input from Tony, his Quaker connections, and very many other local committed people such as Libby Hartwell and Bernard Youngs and others too numerous to mention) has now grown to own 15 permanently affordable homes, a small office building, and a pre-school. It has clearly contributed to the well-being of the village in ensuring that some people can afford to go on living there in spite of escalating prices across the county and country. Every village and neighbourhood needs a land trust like that. 

The simple idea behind a land trust was this: houses are not (that) expensive to build, the problem is the cost of the land. Remove the land cost and homes are more affordable. Tony understood this at a visceral level which is why he started Stonesfield CLT. He was also a founder member with me and Jock Coats, of the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust (OCLT,) prior to its registration in 2006. He also found its first (and to date, only) piece of land through his Quaker connections. Tony retired from OCLT in 2011 when he moved to Bristol. 

Having returned to Bristol where he was born and had grown up, Tony went on to do two more interesting and radical projects. The first, with his wife Randi, was to set up their home at 3 Windsor Terrace as a housing co-op with 4 flats where rents were affordable for local people. This became Windsor Terrace Housing Society which has an asset lock so that it can’t be sold off by members for personal profit; they are tenants in common. When both Tony and Randi have passed away (and Randi is still very much alive!), the property can be transferred to the cooperative at an affordable price thus ensuring another piece of land (and in this case the house that is built on it) will remain permanently affordable. 

Having got Windsor Terrace set up, Tony then turned his attention to addressing what he saw as another scandalous waste of space: the many empty commercial properties in and around Bristol. He set up Abolish Empty Office Blocks (AEOB) and again, drawing heavily on his Quaker and other local connections such as Chris Askew, they managed to raise the funds to buy and convert a vacant commercial property in St George. AEOB now owns this building which provides affordable homes for 6 households . We need more of this sort of thing as well. 

I will miss him in spite of the fact that his risk-taking sometimes left those close to him stressed and ready to pounce to extinguish some of the unwanted fires that occasionally ensued. He was one of the pioneers of the growing movement to create an alternative and parallel system of land ownership, where land is held by communities in trust for local benefit, out of the speculative market. The movement will miss him and so will I. 

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Forty-Three e-Newsletter • Number 504 • April 2021
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW

newsletter@oxfordquakers.org