One of the biggest developments in Cornwall in recent times has reached a major milestone, with approval given for a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the remaining land required for the near 4,000-homes scheme.

Langarth Garden Village is fundamentally a new town the size of Wadebridge on the outskirts of Truro.

The decision by an inspector appointed on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government follows a one-day public local inquiry held in January 2024. All objections from landowners in the area on the outskirts of Truro were formally withdrawn before the inquiry.

Inspector Zoe Hill noted that the purchase of the land represents an “interference with the human rights of those affected” but when balanced against the benefits of the scheme, she believed that the interference is “proportionate and justified”. She stressed that any affected landowners will be able to claim compensation.

Tim Mulholland, managing director of Cornwall Council’s fully-owned house-building company Treveth, said: “Until you get the inquiry approval, you can’t do anything. Because of the scale of the development, there were lots of small lanes and little bits of land that were unadopted. One landowner withdrew his opposition before the CPO – that was the last piece of land that was needed.”

Treveth, in partnership with the council, has set up LVG Property Holdings as the master developer of Langarth. Cornwall Council already owns the majority of land required for the development of Fordh Langarth (previously referred to as the Northern Access Road), housing, two planned primary schools, a park-and-ride extension, green and community spaces, energy centre and key utilities.

However, there were still some interests in land and rights it had not been able to acquire by agreement. The confirmed CPO now enables the council to secure those areas of land.

Work on the first phase of the Langarth Sports Hub, home of Truro City Football Club, was completed at the end of July 2024. Planning permission for the first phase of parks, play spaces and infrastructure was approved during the summer, with the planning application for the first new primary school currently being considered by Cornwall Council.

Work is also progressing well on the construction of the second phase of Fordh Langarth, the major spine road which runs west to east through Langarth Garden Village and will provide access to the development plots and the Royal Cornwall Hospital. This project is both on schedule and budget, and is due to be completed by the end of 2025.

Work on constructing the first houses is currently expected to begin in 2026, with the first 150 homes due to be completed in 2027.

Mr Mulholland said that although the current economic climate was “challenging” it is not expected to affect the delivery of Langarth. “There’s an awful lot of interest from house builders,” he said.

“Langarth is a 20-year scheme and will be sold to house builders in parcels. There is nothing unusual going on that I haven’t seen with other schemes in my career.”