Work finally begins on building homes in garden village for Cornwall
A developer has explained how West Carclaze will be a '21st century Cornish community'
It is more than a decade since people took to the streets of St Austell to protest against plans for an eco-town on the outskirts of the town.
That was two years after it was first announced that former clay sites around the town had been included in Government plans to create a number of eco towns across the country.
And now, in 2021, work has finally begun on building homes which will be part of West Carclaze Garden Village.
The development is vastly different to what was originally proposed but it will be creating 1,500 homes, a new school, a village centre with various facilities as well as opening up vast swathes of countryside which will be accessible to the whole community.
Looking out across the site on a warm, sunny day chief development officer Dorian Beresford says that it will be a “21st century Cornish community”.
Talking through a new masterplan image of the garden village Dorian’s passion for the project is tangible – at times he apologises for talking too much due to his enthusiasm.
He explains how when he first arrived at West Carclaze he was struck by how beautiful it is and said that he wanted to ensure that the development conserves and enhances that beauty.
Work is currently underway on the eastern side of the development with the first of 169 homes in the first phase being built while the site for a new primary school has been prepared and will be handed over for development next month.
Sky Primary School will be opening its doors for the first time in 2022 and shows commitment to ensuring there is infrastructure in place for when families start moving in.
This phase also includes what will be a village centre with shops and health facilities along with a market square.
There will also be play areas and a number of footpaths, cycleways and what are described as green footpaths which will also have edible plants and trees growing alongside them.
In addition this side of the site also has two lakes, Norman Lake will provide a peaceful view for some of the homes while Pentruff Lake will be one of several across the Garden Village which will have water activities.
This section will also link up with the Esam Technology Park which is already built and open, providing workspace and employment opportunities.
As we walk around the site Dorian explains how the homes are going to be energy efficient and low carbon, setting a new standard for eco-friendly living.
Every property will have photo-voltaic panels, electric charging points for vehicles and air source heating.
This will ensure the homes will meet the highest EPC rating and Dorian says they will use 32% of the energy used in a standard home.
In addition to the PV panels on the homes there is also a substantial solar farm on site which will also help to generate power.
Walking into one of the four-bedroom homes under construction Dorian takes us to the top storey with views across the countryside. Entering one of the bungalows you can see how light they are thanks to vaulted ceilings and large windows letting in sunlight.
One of the key elements of garden village’s design is the emphasis on the natural environment and it is this which Dorian is most proud of.
He said that more traditional developments would aim to have 70% density of housing but he said that West Carclaze Garden Village will be less than half of this at 34%.
That means that most of the 350-acre site will remain as open space, creating new opportunities for people to enjoy the great outdoors.
Among the facilities planned are a BMX track, skatepark, sports pitches, an outdoor theatre, allotments, community orchards and the aforementioned water facilities across the site including an inland beach and lake for activities like stand up paddleboarding.
There will also be chances to get back to nature with wildlife reserves, wild planting and a chance to explore the natural landscape which provides some great views across the local area.
And in creating all these things Eco Bos is keen to work alongside local people and organisations so that they can shape the development and facilities.
Edible St Austell is already working alongside to help create the various growing elements across the site and work will start with young people to help with the BMX track and skate park.
Most importantly all the facilities will be open and accessible to all – not just those who live in the Garden Village.
Dorian said: “We don’t want this to be some standalone community, we want to be able to serve the people who live nearby in Bugle, Penwithick and St Austell as well. It’s not just an enclave.
“We will be opening up all this land that local people haven’t been able to go to for some time – some of these areas will be accessible for the first time in more than 100 years.”
The area’s links with the china clay industry will also be incorporated into the garden village and the developers are working with nearby Wheal Martyn Museum and also have artwork and sculptures linked to the industry.
With the Clay Trails already providing walk and cycleways for people to explore the local area the Garden Village will help to provide even more with Dorian saying that there will be around 14 miles of additional routes for people to enjoy.
And all these routes will link in with the network of paths which will take people around the housing element of the scheme.
“Each of the areas has a different greenspace which is what will make the various areas distinct. Every home will be within a minute’s walk of a green area and all will be accessible on footpaths.
“There will be edible planting along the streets – we want children growing up here to understand where food comes from and that during the seasons there are things to pick and eat.”
Dorian added: “It is about creating a place to give people an opportunity to come together as it is all community driven, and that is not just the people who live here. It is something for everybody and something that people can be proud of.
“It is about making sure that wherever we do is not just for the garden village, it is for everybody.”
And he added: “We have this beautiful piece of land that I fell in love with when I saw it and I still love it. And if we didn’t have this post industrial denomination then we wouldn’t be able to build here.
“But we can sympathetically build, this is a regeneration project. We have this site which is beautiful already and we want to enhance it.”
And Dorian said that now that work had started on site it was becoming more exciting to realise that the long-term vision would become reality.
“We are really passionate that this is delivered – I want this to be an exemplar project, we are the only standalone garden village, the others are urban expansions, and we are able to provide a lot of learning for other developers.
“We want this to be something that creates change. We want people to see it is possible to develop this type of community at this density and it is possible to design homes that are more energy efficient and low carbon.
“It is possible to design if you are serious about climate change but also want to create places where people really want to live.”
Dorian said that living in West Carclaze will “feel like you are on holiday” and said that there was no other development which could offer so many different elements for residents.
He added: “It is exemplar for sure, we want more developers to look at this and use it, this is a 21st century Cornish community.”
One of the key sticking points for those who are critical of the scheme is the need for the homes to be affordable for local people.
Dorian said that while the developer would like to be able to build the homes on site so they could be sold for £160,000 he said it just wasn’t possible to do so and ensure they are energy efficient and provide all the other benefits.
However he said that he did not think they would be unaffordable for local people and said that they were keen to ensure that local people would have the first chance to buy properties on site.
The entire garden village will be built over five phases with work set to start on the second phase next year.
Dorian said: “There has been 10 to 12 years of talk about this and we have now had just 16 months of construction, we had to build up the ground – this has been the most difficult site I have worked on.
“But it is exciting now to see things happening here, I get excited now as it is real now. And we want to share it with local people, tell them what it is all about and let them get involved.”
Of course when the talk of this development first started more than a decade ago there were ambitious plans for other sites around the St Austell area, so are those still in place?
Dorian said that plans for Par Docks are still proposed and there could also be development at Blackpool pit, but he said that both were even more complicated sites than West Carclaze.
As we walk through the first phase of the development area at West Carclaze the scale of this site becomes clear. I ask how long it would take to walk from one side of the site to the other in a straight line – the answer “well over an hour”.
If the visions of West Carclaze become reality there could be a lot of people walking all over the site for years to come.