CORNWALL Community Land Trust has recently unveiled eight new, good quality affordable home for families in St Teath.

As of Tuesday, August 23 the opening of the scheme took place, as well as the opportunity to view some of the properties, followed by a celebratory buffet reception at the St Teath Community Centre.

Cornwall CLT is a non-for-profit community benefit society, which is one of the most successful of its kind in the country. As well as developing schemes of its own, Cornwall CLT also works in partnership with charitable Housing Associations and with local Community Land Trusts around Cornwall.

Cornwall CLT’s development manager, Helen Downing, who managed the development and oversaw the project, said: “Everything came together well. It is an added bonus to have the benefit of working with a local village company of people who are committed to helping their community. It’s reassuring that all of the homes were reserved so quickly and by families with such very strong ties with the village.

“It was a successful partnership. Thanks to our employer’s agent, Wellers, to CAF Bank and CAF Venturesome for their financing and having faith in us, to our solicitors Stephens & Scown, and, of course, to Richard and Will of KMD for delivering the homes and retaining good humour in sometimes difficult circumstances.

“This latest St Teath project has brought the number of homes for locals which we have developed in the St Teath parish as a whole, including Delabole, to 63 over the last five years. Cornwall CLT could replicate this success in many other communities.”

Cornwall CLT, as well as developing the scheme in St Teath, has also helped to set up 12 established or emerging local Community Land Trusts in places including St Just in Penwith, St Just in Roseland, Constantine, Ruan Minor, St Ives, St Ewe, Goran, Delabole, St Minver and Truro.

Cornwall CLT director, Andrew George, said: “What this and other CLT schemes show is that local communities can deliver real solutions. Not only has this met a local housing need for families who would eventually face pressure to move to a town up to 14 miles away — away from their families, jobs and schooling to seek affordable homes — but that it was built by local builders from the village. Those who worked on the project were local people, some members of the families who have now moved into the new homes.

“We must now significantly scale-up the work of the CLT in the coming years. With over 30,000 Cornish families on the housing register alone, and many thousands more who are also in need by have yet to register, there is no room for complacency.

“To build homes for locals, Cornwall doesn’t have to be a developer’s paradise — quite the opposite. Cornwall CLT and its housing association partners are less able to produce affordable homes for locals if hope values on land are inflated through expectation of marker developments and the activities of land value speculators.

“What Cornwall CLT has shown is that homes which meet a local affordable housing need can be built in local communities which have seen little housing development in previous years.”

Properties sold to local families in St Teath have been sold at less that 60% of the market value.

Under a planning requirement and covenant, when these properties are re-sold they can only be sold to local families with an unmet housing need at a price no more than the percentage value at which the property was originally purchased, thus ensuring that these homes will meet a local need for affordable housing in perpetuity.

Those who have moved into the properties at Briar Close, St Teath, were either living in private rented homes paying more in rent than they are paying in mortgage repayments or were living with family members in significantly less spacious circumstances.

Jo Mountain, who works at St Teath pre school, her husband Matt, an apprentice electrician, and their three-year-old son Mason, are just one of the families that have felt a positive impact from the scheme in St Teath, having moved into Briar Close just over a month ago.

Jo told the Post: “We rely on our family connections in the village for support and to help with childcare needs, as well as my work being here and wanting our son to attend the local primary school.

“St Teath is also only ten minutes away from Matt’s work and not far from Wadebridge, where many of my family and friends live. All of this, as well as much more, are just some of the reasons that we were so desperate to find a permanent residence in the village.”

Prior to purchasing the property, the Mountain family were private renting for a monthly amount that was higher than their current mortgage repayments, meaning they had to live with Matt’s parents for almost a year when their previous landlords put their rental home on the market.

Jo and Matt were unsure of where they would be able to go, due to the private rental homes in the area being out of their price range.

They then applied to Cornwall Council and South West Housing, initially hoping for a rental property, and were facing the prospect of having to move further afield.

With their second baby on the way, Jo and Matt are ecstatic with their new house, fitting all of their needs in terms of quality, location and price.

Jo added: “We’re so grateful to Cornwall CLT, KMD developments and everyone else involved in the scheme, without whom none of this would’ve been possible for us.

“You can’t put a price on having a wonderful secure home in your local village to raise you family in, and we count ourselves as very lucky to have had this opportunity and hope that other people in similar situations gain the opportunity that we’ve had through such fantastic schemes.

“I really hope to see future developments in other rural areas that help other people to stay in their communities.”