FAQs
About Treveth
What is Treveth?
Treveth, the Cornish word for ‘Homestead’, is a partnership business set up by Cornwall Council in April 2019 to create new homes and commercial development to benefit people who live and work in Cornwall.
Who owns Treveth?
Treveth is 99% owned by Cornwall Council and 1% by the Corserv Group Limited. All of the profits generated from our activities are returned to our partners.
Why was Treveth set up?
Treveth was established through Cornwall Council’s determination to improve people’s lives. Our role is to assist the Council in delivering its objectives of improved housing, economic growth and job creation.
What makes Treveth’s homes different?
Treveth’s objective is to improve the quality of new homes in Cornwall, especially in the private rented market. Our homes exceed current minimum space standards, across all tenures, and are designed to help reduce the running costs for occupants through the use of low carbon technologies including solar panels and sustainable energy solutions.
What tenures are available?
Treveth’s homes are available to rent or buy, and we plan to offer shared ownership so there are no affordability ‘gaps’ in our developments. Our housing schemes will fulfil Local Plan requirements for affordable homes, with schemes generally including an element of homes for open market sale, and the remainder for private rent. This may differ from scheme to scheme depending on what the local market requires. Treveth are committed to each of our developments, long term, through the continued ownership of our rental properties and the wider management of our schemes to ensure our sites are maintained to the highest standards.
Why does Treveth offer three-year tenancies as standard?
Cornwall has a big problem with seasonality of the private rented market which results in short term tenancies, large fluctuations in rent payable between summer and off-season all of which has an impact on occupier stability. This makes it difficult for people to put down roots in their communities if they can only occupy a property for six months.
Treveth rental properties have leases that last three years, and if tenants want to renew at the end of that period then they will be given every opportunity to do so. This allows individuals and families to grow in the communities they live in.
ABOUT PROPOSALS FOR BEDOWAN MEADOWS, NEWQUAY
What is proposed for the site?
Treveth are currently putting together a Full Application for 50 homes including 1 and 2 bed apartments and 1, 2, 3 and 4 bed houses and bungalows, with associated areas of public open space, ecological zones, landscaping and infrastructure. The site will be retained and managed by Treveth for its lifetime with the development aiming to address the inadequate provision of private rental on the market within Newquay. The site will deliver 17 affordable homes (35%) and 33 open market homes (65%). Of the open market homes, 21 will be retained by Treveth as open market rent, whilst12 homes will be available for sale on the open market.
How do we know homes will be for local people?
Treveth’s lettings policy prioritises local people first when renting its properties, with its developments aimed at households who have a local link either through residency, employment or close family. This policy is also extended to homes for sale. To date, across Treveth’s developments, 100 per cent of lettings have been to local people. All affordable homes are allocated to people on Cornwall Council’s Homechoice register, who must also demonstrate local links.
Will the new homes be of good quality and in character with the area?
Treveth’s ambition is to provide high quality homes that achieve net zero carbon emissions and it has developed a suite of modern, but distinctively Cornish, homes. All Treveth homes are designed to be accessible and adaptable. Fossil fuel-free heating, upgraded insulation, features such as solar panels and sustainable heat sources, including air source heat pumps, contribute to an overall low energy strategy and lower running costs, also helping tackle fuel poverty.
What provision will be made for increased demand on local services and amenities?
The development will be required to make financial contributions to local education and health provision through Section 106 contributions, as defined by the local authority.
What will be the impact be on traffic locally?
Vehicular and pedestrian access to the site will be provided from the existing Bedowan Meadows spur road, which provides sufficient width to allow for two-way vehicular operation to occur. The proposed carriageway will transition into a 5.5m wide carriageway within 1.8m wide footways within the site from the terminus of the existing Bedowan Meadows spur road.
The proposed development would approximately equate in one two-way vehicular movement every two minutes and 40 seconds during the network AM peak period and one two-way vehicular movement every two minutes and 10 seconds during the network PM peak period. Therefore, it is considered that the surrounding highway network, in particular Bedowan Meadows, provides sufficient capacity to accommodate the additional trips associated with the proposed development.
What will be the impact on the local environment and ecology – has this been properly assessed?
Mitigation measures include the retention of existing trees along the boundaries, maintaining the potential foraging & commuting routes for bats. The semi-improved grassland and dense scrub within the open space will be retained and enhanced along with buffers to all site boundaries, providing habitats for reptiles and other species.
New Cornish hedges provide along the northern and southern boundary provided enhanced wildlife links and provide hibernation habitats for reptiles.
There is the opportunity to provide bird and bat boxes, as well as bee bricks within the dwellings, and hedgehog access holes in garden fences, creating hedgehog highways through the site. The proposals are aiming towards a 10% biodiversity net gain for both habitats & linear
What happens next and what are the timescales?
We will be holding the public consultation event on the 8th June to share our proposals with the local community and key stakeholders. After this we will consider all of the feedback we have received and finalise the application for submission at the end of June/early July.
