What will be one of the biggest developments in Cornwall in recent times – Langarth Garden Village, which is fundamentally a new town the size of Wadebridge – has reached a major milestone with approval given for a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the remaining land required for the near 4,000-homes scheme.
The decision by an inspector appointed on behalf of the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government follows a one-day public local inquiry held in January 2024. All objections from landowners in the area on the outskirts of Truro were formally withdrawn before the inquiry.
The inspector, Zoe Hill, noted that the purchase of the land represents an “interference with the human rights of those affected” but when balanced against the benefits of the scheme, she believed that the interference is “proportionate and justified”. She stressed that any affected landowners will be able to claim compensation.
Tim Mulholland, managing director of Cornwall Council’s fully-owned house-building company Treveth, told CornwallLive: “Until you get the inquiry approval, you can’t do anything, otherwise you’re potentially in breach. Because of the scale of the development, there were lots of small lanes and little bits of land that were unadopted. One landowner withdrew his opposition before the CPO – that was the last piece of land that was needed.
“The infrastructure is going in at the moment – the main road connecting to the hospital. I would say midsummer, we’ll start looking at marketing it.”
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Harry Lewis, Treveth’s project director for Langarth Garden Village, points out the various phases of the development
(Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
Treveth, in partnership with the council, has set up LVG Property Holdings, the master developer of Langarth. Cornwall Council already owns the majority of land required for the development of Fordh Langarth (previously referred to as the Northern Access Road), the two planned primary schools, a park and ride extension, energy centre, the key utilities and the housing, as well as the green and community spaces.
However, there were still some interests in land and rights it had not been able to acquire by agreement. The confirmed CPO now enables the council to secure those areas of land.
Work on the first phase of the Langarth Sports Hub – a floodlit 3,000-capacity FA-compliant football pitch and stands – was completed at the end of July 2024, enabling Truro City Football Club to return home for the start of the football season.
Planning permission for the first phase of parks, play spaces and infrastructure was approved during the summer, with the planning application for the first new primary school currently being considered by Cornwall Council as the local planning authority.
Work is also progressing well on the construction of the second phase of Fordh Langarth, the major spine road which runs west to east through Langarth Garden Village and will provide access to the development plots and a route from the A390 through Langarth to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske. This project is both on schedule and budget, with the construction of the road due to be completed by the end of 2025.
Work on constructing the first houses is currently expected to begin in 2026, with the first 150 homes due to be completed in 2027.
The inspector said: “The overall benefits in terms of providing the infrastructure necessary to facilitate the delivery of Langarth Garden Village … in a sustainable and plan-led settlement together with its infrastructure including the NAR (Truro Northern Access Road) with its improvements to the local highway network, when taken together, represent a compelling case in the public interest for the acquisition of the land.
“I am satisfied that the AA (acquiring authority) has taken reasonable steps to acquire the land and rights as set out in the Statement of Reasons 36 by agreement. Negotiations with landowners have continued and all objections have now been withdrawn. The acquisition of the land represents an interference with the human rights of those affected but when balanced against the need for the land to facilitate the overall benefits of the scheme, I conclude that the interference is proportionate and justified. The landowners will be able to claim compensation.”
Mr Mulholland said that although the current economic climate was “challenging” it is not expected to affect the delivery of Langarth. “There’s an awful lot of interest from house builders, but they’re a bit quiet at the moment with the way the economy is.
“Langarth is a 20-year scheme and will be sold to house builders in parcels. There is nothing unusual going on that I haven’t seen with other schemes in my career. It literally is that you have to wait for the economy to come back up and the gilt rate to drop down. When that gap closes we can go.
“It’s an interesting one because you don’t expect a new government to come in and see the spike going in the wrong direction.”
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