AN APPLICATION to build 13 houses in Morwenstow, eight of which are for local need, has been approved by Cornwall Council’s East Sub-Area Planning Committee.

Barry Tape, director of BkT Architecture and acting as planning agent for the designer of the development, was in touch with the Post in 2017 to detail the plans to build 13 homes in Morwenstow.

Over a year later, he got back in contact to say the application had been approved by councillors sitting on Cornwall Council’s East Sub-Area Planning Committee, with 13 votes for the application and one against. The decision was made on December 11, 2018.

Mr Tape is delighted with the news, adding: “It went really well at the full council meeting of the sub-committee, with 13 votes in favour and just one against — it was really positive and they seemed to like the design. They appreciated that in rural areas there is a need for this sort of scheme, and developments like this help retain the local community and economy.”

Mr Tape said the scheme is ‘sympathetic’ to the area and described the achievement as ‘a positive outcome and a terrific thing for Morwenstow’.

“Many Cornwall Council officers recommended the scheme for approval, and then we had 13 out of 14 in full support,” Mr Tape continued.

Although there isn’t a date set for construction to start, it is hoped the development will begin early this year. The scheme is a cross-subsidy scheme, and the design incorporates detailing to stay sympathetic to the area.

The affordable dwellings are larger than the minimum requirements, and have been designed to be ‘lifetime’ homes. Mr Tape said the simple building forms and natural mixed materials provides ‘variety and visual interest, which promotes local distinctiveness’, as well as according with policies MD.5 and H.1.01 of the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty management plan.

He said: “I believe the community face a number of challenges in the 21st century. Funding cuts have led to a reduction in public services and the gap between rural house prices and wages continue to widen. I believe the provision of affordable housing in Morwenstow plays a pivotal role to safeguard the community.

“Local need means that the builds are affordable, but that is quite subjective. However, it is the best the system can offer at the moment. One main worry that has come to my attention is that there haven’t been any applications in Morwenstow for affordable housing for 12 years.

“The parish council kept saying that there is a scheme for 16 dwellings to be built — but none of these are affordable. This is very much an affordable-led scheme.”

Along with the housing will be a welcomed public space, which has potential to be made into a green space or community orchard, which ‘anyone from anywhere can use’. It is hoped that the cross-subsidy side of the scheme will encourage local people to stay in the village.

A spokesperson for Morwenstow Parish Council said: “Morwenstow Parish Council has always supported affordable housing projects within the parish. There were concerns raised with this particular application that have been addressed by the architect.

“The integration of the affordable housing element has been designed to comply with the National Planning Framework Policy and Policy 9 of the Cornwall Council policy, and the parish council wishes the project every success.”