Who is Involved in Our Leading-Edge, Sustainable Garden Village?

In January 2019 Cornwall Council took on a proactive role in planning and delivering the new integrated community at Langarth. Rather than allow piecemeal development, the Council allocated £159 million to support the development of a masterplan and key infrastructure for the whole site to help create a vibrant, co-ordinated and sustainable development where people want to live, work and visit.

There are also some specific benefits to existing and future local residents of the Council’s involvement.

These include:

• Protecting at least 48% of the existing green space within the site (compared with just 19% in the previous applications).
• Providing 35% affordable housing (for local people), as well as homes for key workers such as nurses and teachers, and extra care housing for older people and people with disabilities.
• Building high quality homes to a standard up to 20% higher than current building regulations, with a target of achieving Zero Carbon within 10 years.
• Using low carbon energy sources such as ground source heat pumps to heat the whole development rather than fossil fuels, with electric charging points for every house and high levels of insulation.
• Improved connectivity with generous and interconnected green corridors linking to existing settlements at Threemilestone, Treliske and Gloweth, with the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro and Penwith College and with existing and planned retail developments in the rest of Truro.
• Using sustainable drainage systems as a natural flood prevention system that enhances biodiversity.
• Creating a vibrant, co-ordinated development where people want to live, work and visit, with green and public spaces allowing communities to interact and flourish; live-work housing solutions, including access to superfast broadband and support for start-ups and growth for small and medium sized enterprises, and new sports, cultural and play areas.
• Providing areas for young families to live, close to schools and surrounded by nature and opportunities for children to develop in close relationship with landscape.
• Building on Cornish heritage and promoting the use of locally sourced building materials and local tradespeople to create a variety of different housing sizes and styles – not a bland “one size fits all” approach.
• Setting the development within the historic fields to minimise impact on existing hedgerows and creating new hedges to help increase biodiversity on the site by up to 20%.
• Promoting enhanced facilities to encourage walking and cycling access for work and leisure.
• Maximising the potential of proximity to the Stadium and Threemilestone Industrial Estate for work and leisure opportunities.

There are a number of different options that can be taken forward and the approach to the structure will form part of the application as it progresses and will form part of the S106 agreement for the application.

The Stakeholder Panel was set up in early 2019 to represent the interests of the local community following Cornwall Council’s decision to take on a proactive role in planning and delivering the new integrated community at Langarth.

It included councillors from Cornwall Council, Truro City Council and Kenwyn Parish Council, with representatives from key partners and community organisations. 

Chaired by Cornwall Councillor Dulcie Tudor, with Cornwall Councillor John Dyer as Vice Chairman, the members of the Panel met monthly to discuss the developing  Masterplan, including the design and quality of housing; transport links; and the provision of community facilities, including new schools,  and health, leisure, play, faith and emergency facilities, green spaces and a new community centre. 

The final meeting of the panel was held in May 2020.

The Langarth GV masterplan identifies the overall layout of the scheme, including green and open spaces, community facilities and essential infrastructure.

It also sets out design principles for the scheme, as well as robust design codes which set the rules for the quality and design of buildings. All developers wishing to be involved in the scheme will have to abide by these codes.

The 10 design principles for the scheme are:

1. Work with and enhance the quality of life for local communities.
2. Making it easy and possible to get around on foot, bike, and public transport, both with Langarth and into surrounding communities.
3. Help instill a strong sense of community.
4. Creating a place that builds upon and celebrates this unique environment.
5. Creates a hard working landscape that not just looks beautiful but is functional and productive.
6. Promote active and healthy lifestyles and a sense of wellbeing.
7. Designing for climate change resilience.
8. Offers a mix of homes meeting the varying needs of residents.
9. Creating jobs and enhancing existing employment opportunities.
10. A vision that is deliverable.

The masterplan will help:

• Deliver high quality, well designed housing, improved infrastructure and spaces for work and services that fit the needs of a diverse population retain as much green space within the site as possible while delivering a lower overall density.
• Maximise access to green space and promote the use of sustainable transport methods for residents and visitors.
• Create and enhance pedestrian and cycle links into Threemilestone and the surrounding communities
• Providing new areas of forest, with parks, public sport areas, and green civic and amenity spaces.
• Ensure that public infrastructure and social amenities such as new schools, an extension to the park and ride scheme, health, leisure, faith, emergency facilities and a new community centre and services needed to enable the development are delivered at the start of the project when the community needs them, rather than having to wait until a significant proportion of the new houses have been built.

Our plans include providing a wide range of community assets, including new schools, health facilities, parks, green spaces, footpaths, street furniture, cultural facilities, community buildings and other facilities.

A stewardship scheme is being developed to manage community assets.