A neighbourly way to age well together…

Cohousing aims to be a bit like our image of a traditional village or street – a safe neighbourhood where everyone knows each other, looks out for each other, shares a social life and helps each other out. What makes cohousing different from communities based on a faith or a place of employment is that the key idea that holds them together is being a good neighbour.

As modern cities evolved isolation and loneliness for older people became issues. Traditional solutions, like sheltered housing and retirement villages are fine but they can make retired people passive recipients and do not necessarily produce “good neighbours”.

Cohousing for the older population is an attempt to produce communities for retired people which foster neighbourliness as well as leaving control firmly with the residents. There is currently only one senior cohousing community in the UK, so Still Green Cohousing (opens new window) for the over 50’s is a rare opportunity.  In May 2026 building started on Still Green, with the support of enabling developer TOWN, as part of Milton Keynes City Council’s regeneration of the centre of Wolverton, Milton Keynes and in late 2028. 

The buildings and the legal set up are important but ultimately a good community is created by the people who live there. Currently members (and future purchasers and residents of the cohousing community) age from 56 to 87 and draw on people from a wide range of backgrounds and from all over the world. There are still a few flats unreserved so there is space for more people to join us still. 

Still Green is about neighbourliness, foresight about one’s own old age and self-management and self-determination.  The key requirements for joining are: one person in the household is over 50; they want to be good neighbours; they believe in sustainable living and cooperation; they want to contribute to the management of their own home and the cohousing community and want to make responsible provision for their older age.

There will be 29 flats arranged around a shared garden and a Common House. Sharing is key to building a community and the Common House will support the opportunity to eat together and spend time together as well as offering rooms for guests. Everyone will share in the practical day-to-day tasks involved in looking after the garden and Common House and supporting community activities as far as their capabilities allow.

Living in cohousing offers an opportunity to be part of a community and live a meaningful and productive life together in our older age - we can’t wait to move in! 

---

If you found this of interest, check out our previous Housing LIN guest blog from back in 2021 by Frances Wright, Head of Community Partnering at TOWN, on "Cohousing plus: Widening the housing choices for people with a learning disability", which references Still Green. 

To access a range of further resources on Cohousing curated by the Housing LIN, click here.