Cornwall is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places to live in the UK, but for its local population it is one of the hardest areas to obtain high quality affordable housing.
Land and House prices in Cornwall are amongst the highest in the UK; the average price of a house in Cornwall is £185,000 and rising, compared to £120,000 for the rest of England and Wales excluding the South East . Coupled with lower than average wages, (£21,258 average gross annual income in Cornwall compared to £26,079 in GB) and higher than average living costs, fuel is on average two per cent more expensive, and nearly one in five households being classified as in ‘Fuel Poverty', Cornwall housing is under pressure to find low cost, high quality housing for its residents.
Cornwall Housing, aided by the data and mapping services of Cornwall Council, have been, and are continuing to review its' property assets. These sites are then passed on to the development department who assess their potential for housing development.
The first of these sites to be successfully developed is in the centre of Bodmin. The former county town is one of the top six areas in Cornwall identified as being most in need of housing with over a thousand households with a local connection registered as requiring housing.
The development consists of four flats and five houses, which now occupy a piece of land where a disused garage block once stood. The garages, owned by Cornwall Council and managed by Cornwall Housing, needed either investment to bring them up to a useable standard or demolition.
The opportunity was taken to provide Bodmin with much needed new homes, which offered modern energy efficient housing at rents local people could afford.
The timber frame constructed houses were completed in March of this year and built, by Cornwall Housing to a very high standard using modern construction methods. This means they are very well insulated, therefore cheap to run with very low CO2 emissions. The properties are heated by under floor heating from an air source heat pump and so one tenant has reported her fuel bills are much cheaper. In her previous house the tenant was spending £30 a week on fuel where as in her new home her smart meter shows she has only used £111.00 of fuel over two months. This would be a massive saving of £894.00 on fuel, per year.
The new development of two four-bedroom houses, two three-bedroom houses, one two-bedroom house, a pair of two-bedroom flats, a pair of one-bedroom flats and parking have all been allocated to people with a local connection. One of the new properties was especially adapted to respond to the requirements of a local wheelchair user in need of housing. The tenant said "My new flat will make a huge difference to me and help me to become an independent person."
Cornwall Council cabinet member for homes and communities Geoff Brown said: "I'm delighted with this new development of council houses. With over 28,000 registered applicants currently waiting for housing, we are very aware of just how acute the housing needs in Cornwall are. By building these brand new council houses, Cornwall Housing is playing a key role in the delivery of Cornwall Council's housing and investment plan which will see more council houses being built and let to local families in the coming years."
In conclusion a problem area of the town has been used to provide high quality housing in an area where it is most needed.