MANY people in Cornwall spend over 40 per cent of their wages on rent.

This government has already passed the Renters’ Rights Act to protect people renting their home so they can’t be evicted on two months’ notice for no reason, but it’s hard to afford to buy your own home with an average house price in the south west of around £300,000.

This week I went to the UKREiiF investment and infrastructure conference in Leeds. It’s a conference to bring together investors (such as pension funds) and government organisations who want to invest in infrastructure like renewable energy and housing, and the councils who have infrastructure they need to build in their areas.

I sat on two panels: infrastructure investment and housing, and I met a Fund manager who represents pension funds. My job was to make the case for investment into Cornwall: Our renewable energy opportunities in wind and geothermal, critical minerals, our port and rail links, and our housing needs.

Pydar, in Truro, is an old council offices site that needs regeneration and new homes. However, high construction costs often make building social and affordable housing financially difficult if homes are to be offered at genuinely affordable prices. Homes England is a government organisation that holds and administers the £39 billion the Government has committed to help build truly affordable housing in the UK. This funding is split into different pots, part of which will help provide the infrastructure needed for housing, such as road connections and the burying of cables. And another part can help close that “viability gap” so we can afford to build the houses and still keep the rents at a level local people can afford. This kind of intervention is vital to build the right homes, in the right places, for local people.

At the conference, I met Katie McBride, an Executive Regional Director at Homes England, to push for a good chunk of that national £39-billion funding to come to Cornwall.

Langarth Garden Village in Truro could be an example of what this looks like in practice. It could deliver homes over 10 years, 35 per cent of them affordable, alongside schools, housing for elderly people and plenty of green space. The development also prioritises energy-efficient homes using low-carbon technologies.

Homes England already has a dedicated Cornwall team and is progressing towards a closer partnership with Cornwall Council. I have been working with the council for months to support this progress, because if we want to deliver the housing and infrastructure needed to create genuinely affordable places to live in Cornwall, continued partnership working and government support will be essential.

The government is also doing its part with legislation and has announced a new Social Housing bill in the King’s Speech. This brings in new protections for council housing. It will mean they can’t be sold off for 35 years under Right to Buy and can’t be sold off at all if the houses are in rural areas.