Diocese provides affordable homes for Cornish village

Photo credit: @charlesfrancis.photos

A ribbon cutting ceremony has taken place to celebrate the beginning of a project to build more affordable homes for young families in the Cornish village of St Ewe.

Rural affordability is a significant feature of the housing crisis in Cornwall, and this project will benefit local families who would otherwise be pushed out of their community and support network. Without sufficient affordable homes for local people, the sustainability and survival of villages like St Ewe is under threat.

A few years ago, the diocese of Truro sold a plot of glebe land in the village to St Ewe Affordable Homes Limited (SEAHL) who built six homes there. They have now sold the adjoining plot to SEAHL also, and the Archbishops Council Housing Project has just made a grant to enable them to take the site forward. The £25,000 grant will fund architects’ work, surveys, pre-application planning fees, environmental assessments and public consultation.

The plan is to collaborate with a local housing association to build three two bedroom houses and one three bedroom house, which will be offered at social rent.

Kate Cortez, Head of Operations and Governance at the Diocese of Truro, said: “A key priority of the diocesan glebe strategy, approved in 2025, is to enable the use of glebe to provide homes, and land for homes, where local people need them.

“We are delighted that SEAHL will be able to do this using this land. It is a real community endeavour and the turn out for the ribbon cutting really shows this.”