EACH week, hundreds of planning applications come before Cornwall Council’s planning department, seeking to win approval for various plans right across the Duchy, with some concerning Holsworthy handled by Torridge District Council.

These plans can comprise of a number of different reasonings– ranging from permission to replace windows or listed building consent ranging up to large house building developments or changing of use of a building, for instance, from an office to a café, or flats.

Within this large and often complex system, there are a number of formats from which planning advice and approval can be sought.

These range from full applications where all the details which comprise a proposed development or work to a building are submitted, to outline applications, where further details are yet to be confirmed, for example, an outline application with reserved matters for appearance may not confirm the final proposed development but rather seek permission in principle.

An example of this is one for an outline permission for 20 dwellings on land with reserved matters for appearance and scale; the reserved matters would require further permission later for their inclusion.

Other types of applications include pre-application advice requests, where would-be developers submit often outline proposals to a local authority to ascertain whether it is likely to gain support or not prior to submitting a planning application.

The vast majority of applications are decided by planning officers employed by a local authority under ‘delegated powers’, meaning they do so on behalf of their employer, however, some applications are ‘called in’ by local councillors to be discussed at an area’s strategic planning committee meeting, meaning the final decision rests with a committee of councillors.

We visited the heart of the Langarth Garden Village project to see how work on the huge housing development and the new Northern Access Road is going, writes Lee Trewhela LDRS.

If you’ve driven along the A390 between Truro and the new stretch of A30 you will notice that things are moving on the new Langarth Garden Village – which aims to provide homes for up to 10,000 people over the next 20 to 25 years – but you may not be able to see just how quickly everything is moving.

Based in a valley, a lot of the work is hidden from view. The new Northern Access Road (NAR) – which will feed the new “town” and link the A390, and A30 in turn, with the Royal Cornwall Hospital and on to Truro – is basically in place, with the first stage opening next year. Work is also apace to create the first phase of housing – around 750 homes – to be delivered at a rate of around 150 homes a year over the next five years.

Cornwall Council’s flagship housing project is massive – but in order to solve the Duchy’s housing crisis it needs to be replicated elsewhere, which is why the team behind it want to see another ten garden villages like it across the county.

We joined Harry Lewis, project director for the council’s development company Treveth (LVG Property Holdings, the master developer of Langarth is a partnership between Treveth Holdings and Cornwall Council), Steve Worthington, project manager for Cormac – the council’s highways and civil engineering wing, and Cllr Olly Monk, Cornwall Council’s portfolio holder for housing, at the building compound.

It’s just a few feet away from the busy Langarth Park and Ride where most customers will be unaware of the complex, mega development which is happening around them.

Pointing to a map featuring the various phases of the build on 650 acres of land in the valley between Threemilestone and Penstraze, Harry told me that the NAR has kicked off the entire plan. The new 3.4km road, funded to the tune of £47.5m by Homes England, is now basically in place and adjacent to the A390 – where a new ghost island junction will already be familiar to drivers. The complete road, which is fully on budget and time, should be completed in the summer of 2025.

There are sections where you can already see what it will look like – a single lane road, next to cycleways which are in turn next to pedestrian footways, which will all sit among a boulevard of trees

Of the overall Langarth Garden Village scheme, Harry said: “That whole CPO (compulsory purchase order) process of cleaning up to 650 acres and bringing everyone on the journey with you, including neighbouring landowners – who are resisting but end up becoming partners – is no mean feat. It’s detailed and attritional, but we’ve been successful. We have good agreements and partnerships growing with our neighbouring landowners.”

LVG Property Holdings will be going to market in October to seek expressions of interest from national, regional and local house builders to join a consortium, which will be run in a similar way to the Duchy of Cornwall housing scheme, Nansledan, in Newquay.

“We imagine we will be in design next year and start building in 2026, which means the first homes will be available either at the end of that year or the beginning of 2027,” said Harry.

With his housing hat on, Olly said: “I think it’s a brilliant opportunity for a lot of housebuilders across Cornwall. We will see three or four initial major developers on site, producing what we need but then, in the future phases, as it becomes more and more viable and we start to get some capital receipts back, you can start opening up to those small, local Cornish builders.

“What I don’t want to see is a uniform design all the way through. They have to design it to a certain standard and quality, but how the houses look is very much tailored to each individual developer. They’ll all bring their little bit of ‘je ne sais quoi’ to each phase. So when you drive through it you’ll see a lot of variety.”

The Conservative councillor added: “With the growth of Cornwall, this is a really good scheme but we need more of them across Cornwall. I would say by 2050 we would need another ten of these at least.”

A new primary school is forecast to open in September 2027 and there will be a village centre featuring shops, a business hub, health care centre and a bar. The new Truro Sports Hub, which is at the heart of the project, is also developing quickly with the FA-affiliated pitch pretty much finished, ready for Truro City FC to start playing at their new ground in September.

There won’t only be Truro City’s pitch but a community building and pitch too. Harry added: “That’s a big thing because it will expand that village centre, which is what we want to do as we want to drive that feeling of community first and foremost.

“Because we’re putting all that infrastructure in from day one – the Sports Hub, the village centre design – we’re ensuring there is a sense of community straight away. Looking at other projects, the housing comes first for a lot of them, with the community coming second. If we can at least try and create this community from the beginning, then we’re on to a winner.”

Of the 4,000 houses, over 1,200 will be affordable, likely be a 70 per cent split of social rent and 30 per cent shared ownership, but it is flexible and could end up at 50/50. The affordable homes will be dotted throughout the development rather than being built together in one area.

Olly said the garden village is having wider ramifications. “The council has done a lot of work with Truro and Penwith College to increase a skills hubs to give the youth of Cornwall the opportunity to work their careers in house building and associated industries which come with a project like this. So kids don’t have to leave Cornwall, they can work all their lives here and earn decent money. It’s like the good old days when you had a job for life as chippies, joiners, plasterers … and they’ve got a volume of work in front of them.

“Cornwall Council has put out a ‘call for sites’ where we ask landowners, local developers and land agents to suggest sites that could be available for future development. Tying in with our Local Plan which identifies the population of Cornwall will be somewhere in the region of 630,000 by 2050, you will need to build more of these sort of projects or the inequality in the housing market which will just grow and grow.

“If we don’t do more of this, we’re going to look like a National Park where no one can afford to live. I don’t think that’s acceptable for Cornwall.”

Like any project of its scale, Langarth has had its setbacks and challenges. “One of the main challenges is the backdrop of inflation and supply chain, but from a master developer point of view, the biggest challenge is getting everyone involved in the whole process and taking everyone on the journey with you, so there’s been a lot of community engagement,” said Harry. ” We’ve had a very good run at that in the last two years, making sure everyone knows when something’s happening, what’s coming up in the programme.

“There are also topographical challenges of working in a valley. You are looking at a lot of piling, certainly along the NAR.”

Steve, who is in charge of all the day to day construction, added: “The earthworks are a major part of this project and probably around ten to 15 per cent of the overall cost. There’s nothing going off site in terms of subsoil, which we’ve succeeded in. That’s the key construction challenge, as well as conservation and ecology.

“The biodiversity net gain is calculated on the whole development, so that’s ongoing as it evolves. We have resident ecologists and environmental specialists who oversee everything.” Around 48 per cent of the site will be parkland and green space.

The development will also benefit the local economy. Around 90 to 100 people are currently working on-site, which is likely to increase to around 150 by the end of the year when the infrastructure process starts.

“Then there’s the house building and we’re creating a data centre which will create a huge amount of employment opportunities. There’s an energy centre with thermal and battery storage – there will be lots of different types of businesses here,” added Harry.

As we surveyed the huge amount of work going on, Olly said: “It’s amazing how vastly complicated the process is from the conception to when we start delivering. People don’t see the work that goes into it.”

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