WITH 200 affordable homes already changing the lives of Cornwall locals, including many families in St Teath, an affordable housing organisation has ambitious growth plans ahead.

Cornwall Community Land Trust is tirelessly working with residents and other local bodies to create truly affordable homes across the county for local people, combating ever-increasing house prices and the widespread popularity of visitor-owned second homes.

Director, Andrew George, said: “It changes lives for the better. I believe we make the difference between families barely existing and being able to live bigger lives and to a greater potential. In less than ten years we’ve produced more than 200 homes. These are by the community, for the community and forever.

“CLT homes offer a much lower cost, more secure, more spacious, more fuel efficient and all-round happier option for local families, who frankly shouldn’t be treated so badly by a housing market, which often pushes them to the margins of their own communities.

“Our volunteers, our voluntary board members, our partners and supporters all feel rightly proud of what we do, and they want us to do more of it — helping more families and individuals in more communities. We’ve shown we can do it; we now want others to help us to do more of it.”

Cornwall Community Land Trust (CLT) was established in 2007 and has since been developing quality housing at affordable prices for local people, working directly with communities to respond to their specific needs.

With house prices and rents increasingly forcing many away from the areas they have grown up in, the CLT also works to ensure local communities don’t become fragmented by requiring applicants for its houses to have clear family or work connections with the area.

Jo Mountain, 27, husband Matthew and their two children Mason, four, and six-month-old Seth, live in a house at Cornwall CLT’s most recent development, on Briar Close in St Teath.

Jo has lived in the village for five years and works at the local pre-school, while Matthew has lived in St Teath for 20 years and has close family connections here.

She said: “Before, we were renting a small house in St Teath, which was fine for us as a couple, but not with children, and it wasn’t somewhere we felt we could call home or where we could see ourselves staying.

“When the landlord told us they were going to sell, we were desperate as we couldn’t find anything affordable to rent in the area where we’d built our lives, and were worried about being made homeless. We put our name down for everything we could find, including registering with the council, and never imagined we’d be able to buy.

“Then, when Help to Buy South West sent us the details of the Cornwall CLT development, letting us know that the build was starting and we could apply for a property, it was life changing.”

Jo said that the houses were priced at 56% of open market value, and when the family was told they were eligible to buy one, they couldn’t quite believe it.

She continued: “We feel very lucky and I’m still amazed to be in a spacious three-bedroom house we’ve been able to buy, and one with such a lovely, quality finish.

“As they grow up, our children are going to play with their friends here, go to the local school together and I can keep my job here. So it’s not just about the affordability, it’s about the community that has been created and kept together. If anyone has the opportunity for community-led housing, I’d say definitely go for it. It’s absolutely brilliant, and Cornwall CLT is showing what can be achieved.”

Cornwall CLT began life as a pilot scheme project with Cornwall Rural Housing Association (CRHA) to see whether the CLT model, popular in the US, could be a viable way to deliver affordable homes in the region.

The two organisations worked in partnership to develop a number of successful housing schemes, including one in St Ewe, where Cornwall CLT helped to create St Ewe Affordable Homes Ltd and their partnership with CRHA to make the development happen.

Cornwall CLT has been involved in the building of more than 200 homes across the county throughout around 20 developments, either directly or assisting smaller CLTs. In doing so, community engagement and consultation from the outset and throughout is key.

Also new to the St Teath development are 27-year-old Keziah Mainwaring, a part-time teacher at Padstow Primary School, fiancée Callum Wilson, a PE teacher at Wadebridge School, and baby Albie.

Keziah said: “I lived at my mum’s house for three and a half years, trying desperately to save for a mortgage. Planning on starting a family, it was important to me to have a home in St Teath, as my mum, gran, brother and sister live here, but I thought there was no way I would ever be able to afford anything.”

Keziah recalled when she found out about the proposed development. She continued: “I went to the very first planning meeting for these homes in the community hall, four years before they were built. We were very lucky to be accepted. It opened up the rest of our lives; we could have a baby and it’s given us a great quality of life. We’re so happy.

“I went to primary school with most of the people here, and lots of us now have our own children who will go to the local primary school and be friends, having the same experience growing up here as we did, which is great for the community.

“This type of community-led housing is affordable and allows communities to stay and grow together — more houses are needed for people like us, who can’t get on the property ladder otherwise.”

Keziah added: “The builders all live locally and this development has given them two years’ work, meaning it hasn’t just benefitted those moving in. The land was also bought from a local farmer, so it’s been a win-win all around for the community.”

It was recently announced that Cornwall has received £5-million of funding to scale up community-led housing developments. This follows the March 2016 budget, when it was announced that additional stamp duty on second homes, a significant issue contributing to rising property prices in the county, would be used to pay for the creation of much-needed affordable homes.