Local villagers to benefit from seven new affordable homes in Landrake

Developer Aster Group proudly welcomed members of the local community to the unveiling of seven much-needed affordable homes in the rural village of Landrake, Cornwall.

The two and three-bedroom homes on West Lane in Landrake, which are available for affordable rent, have been built by Aster in partnership with regional contractors JJ Jones & Sons. Development partner Cornwall Community Land Trust (CLT) is a not-for-profit charitable trust, set up by local people nearly a decade ago, primarily to help provide more affordable homes for local families but also to oversee the provision of other community assets. 

Representatives from Aster and Cornwall CLT were joined by members of the Landrake Parish Council at the ceremony to mark the completion of the development. 

The homes are due to be handed over towards the end of May with a number of new residents with their names on the local housing register lined-up and looking forward to moving in. “Finding a home in the local area has been really difficult; my partner and I were looking for over a year,” says villager Shelley Dodd, who will be moving into one of the new properties. 

“My son and I have been living with my parents which has just been too crowded. To finally have a place of our own is really exciting and Aster has made the process so easy. Everything from our lovely housing officer who has answered all our questions, to the rental agreements being fair and affordable. I just can’t wait to move in now!” 

The development is one of many CLT schemes developer Aster has completed, with the business committed to maximising its profits from the sale of homes to reinvest back into building new affordable homes, including rural community schemes like Landrake. 

David Luke, Aster’s regional development director, says: “It’s our vision that everyone has a home. While we work towards this vision through our large scale urban developments, we are also delivering new homes in rural areas through the Aster Foundation, our corporate social responsibility commitment. 

“We’ve committed to delivering high quality affordable homes which are needed so desperately in rural locations like Landrake where buying a property can often be out of the reach of many villagers. We hope the residents will be very happy in their new homes."

Helen Downing, development manager of Cornwall CLT, says: “Cornwall Community Land Trust is delighted to work in partnership with Aster to ensure these much needed homes are provided in an area where many local families on low incomes have very few opportunities of having a decent, secure home of their own. We have worked with 12 new and emerging local community Land Trusts (CLTs) across Cornwall and with other local communities like Landrake to provide nearly 200 new affordable homes. We are also grateful to JJ Jones and their construction team who have worked hard in very difficult and challenging weather conditions throughout the winter to ensure we have met a challenging target.”