Cornwall Council buys 130 homes in effort to tackle county's housing crisis

Cornwall Council has completed a multi-million-pound deal to buy 130 homes as part of its work to tackle the county's housing crisis.

The deal with developers Eco-Bos is the largest acquisition the authority has made to date for its ‘council housing’ development programme, which was set up in 2019.

Once completed, the homes at West Carlaze Garden Village near St Austell will be available for social rent and affordable rent to those in need.

Shared ownership homes will also be available, helping people to take the first step on the housing ladder.

Initially, 100 of the 130 homes were supposed to be open market homes.

But the deal will see these converted to additional affordable housing using council funding.

This means the site will now deliver significantly more than the original 35 per cent affordable housing required through the planning process.

Olly Monk, Cornwall Council’s Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning, said: “This deal represents nearly two years of work.

“This council has committed to ending the housing crisis in Cornwall, and commercial acquisitions of low carbon homes like this, in sustainable locations, shows our commitment to doing whatever is necessary to provide homes that people in our communities can afford – without having a detrimental effect on the environment.

“We want to buy many more homes like these and we are working with partners across the housing market to achieve that."

The homes are due to be handed over to the council over the next three to four years, with the first expected in the coming months.

They will feature air-source heat pumps and solar panels, saving an average of 4.6 tonnes of carbon a year, using just 32 per cent of the energy of an average house.