CornwallLive readers are discussing the development of the new Langarth Garden Village - a massive project set to provide homes for up to 10,000 people within the next two to three decades. The project is well underway, however due to its valley location much of the progress remains unseen by locals. Residents and readers have expressed concerns in our comments section that the new housing may be unaffordable for locals.
The new Northern Access Road (NAR), which will connect the A390 to the Royal Cornwall Hospital and Truro, is essentially completed and will serve as a main route into the new town. The first phase of the housing project, consisting of around 750 homes, is also underway and an ambitious build of about 150 homes per year over the next five years is expected.
Cornwall Council's flagship housing project on the outskirts of Truro is a significant development aimed at addressing the Duchy's housing crisis. However, in order to go further, the team behind it is advocating for the creation of ten more garden villages across the county, after the one already well underway near St Austell.
Commenter ThePeople'sChamp thinks: “Shocking destruction of countryside. Apparently fields used for farming don't count as green belt even when the fields are all green grass. Stop building more industrial estates that can't keep businesses for more than a few years and build houses on them instead.”
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PastyKing writes: “Hmm sounds like a new town, with not enough existing services this is a big mistake. A dental surgery should be in the first phase, along with a doctor's surgery. The greatest mistake though is not identifying how many houses will be truly affordable to locals. Which must surely mean under £200k given average wages here are so much lower.”
Colinfromcornwall agrees: “With building new homes for Cornwall how is Labour going to make them affordable for the residents of Cornwall? The majority of Cornwall are on low and many seasonal incomes compared to the rest of the UK. We just can't keep building new homes in Cornwall for the rest of the UK for the sake of a small percentage of non affordable houses. As we all know the infrastructure in Cornwall has gone beyond its capacity to cope”
Leytonexile asks: “10,000 people will produce a lot of sewage. Where's the infrastructure to deal with that?” blueriver replies: “The council's original sewerage plans were laughed at by the environment agency. As were its calculations of the likely traffic from the development.” They go on to say: “six weeks wait for a GP appointment now. 10,000 people later things can only get better! We all know it won't be people from Cornwall living there. Nor will the NAR relieve the congestion, it just brings it to the hospital roundabout. This has all been madness.”
Trikepilot01 writes: “Interesting to see how many local people will actually get to own one, or will we be importing more people from inner cities?”
Gully replies: “Sounds amazing doesn't it? No, it's not. The existing infrastructure and services in the county cannot cope as it is , these massive schemes simply compound the issues. As locals we could in a way accept this if these new homes were reserved for locals and by that I mean Cornish born men and women, not someone that moved from Manchester 6 months ago and put their name on a list. A better option would be that families could remain in their area of birth should they wish but that opportunity has been ripped away from them. Sadly this and other developments will just become remote home counties for those fleeing the last embers of London etc.”
Yerboy is also concerned: “Looks like a lot of design and build contracts where all the responsibility and risk is on the various contractors. We will probably see a few that won't make it. The question is who are the ten thousand people and where will they come from. Our present hospital and other services will never cope. Why these councillors are hell bent on ruining Cornwall and making it a suburb of the rest of England. They should be looking after our county not destroying it from over development of lots of little boxes that will probably have different porches on them to make them look different. The cost to build will dictate how they look and be affordable to purchase. The new housing near me are £900k each they are certainly not in the range of local people. The problem lies with what has been already built not being affordable therefore not helping to solve the local need.”
CornishBod thinks: “We're becoming a nation of private landlords and multi-home owners. This has increased wealth inequality and the poverty gap, creating a society of anger, hopelessness, weak communities and crime. Ultimately this is good for nobody and developments like Langarth are masking this problem. Langarth is built on farmland and countryside while thousands upon thousands of homes in Cornwall aren't permanently lived in (our coastal communities are almost completely hollowed out). This is a huge mistake that will be felt in the years ahead when we realise that we cannot produce enough food to feed our growing population and we become increasingly reliant on expensive overseas imports. FIRST NOT SECOND HOMES.”
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Jchaff56&& asks: “I wonder if they will build any more hospital's to cope?” Theduke52 agrees: “There MUST BE a new additional hospital especially with full A&E facilities (plus GPs, dentists, schools) before this dear old county is ruined forever! Do the people that come up with these plans not realise where Cornwall is heading? With many of the folk moving down here (we can all move where we like!) Being older there is the inevitable requirement for care as they get yet more years under their belts! Yet no more infrastructure being planned? Shameful!”
ThePeople'sChamp points out: “A new hospital will make no difference, the problem is not enough people to fill the vacancies at the current hospital we have. There is space for additional wards but there is neither the funding to open them or the staff to fill them.”
Triggerandhisdoggo says: “Town centres dying because you can’t park, villages empty because they’re all holiday homes, and the council decides that the solution is another vast housing estate. Brilliant!” Misterqt replies: “GREAT development. Treveth just does things on a whole different (higher quality) level! Good % of affordable, very low energy! This is what we need for the future!”
How do you feel about the new plans? Do you think garden villages are the answer to Cornwall's housing issues? Haver your day in our comments section.
