The St Ives Community Land Trust (CLT) project to renovate the Old Vicarage building in St Ives to provide six affordable flats for local people has reached a key milestone.
St Ives Mayor Andrew Mitchell, Simon Ryan (Three Seas), Tom Crook (Resonance), Peter La Broy, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for housing, and Matthew Hayter, Keith Jones, Jill Block, and Martha Patrick from St Ives Community Land Trust
A new agreement has been signed between the trust and community housing provider Three Seas Cornwall, supported by St Ives Town Deal.
Known originally as the Parsonage and built in the late 1830s, the building, in Street-an-Pol, was home to the vicars of St Ives until the early 1950s, when Canon Jenkin moved into a newly-constructed vicarage off St Andrew’s Street.
The old vicarage was then taken over by St Ives Borough Council, who converted the upper storeys into four flats while the ground floor was owned by Cornwall County Council and used as community rooms for a number of local organisations, including a camera club, various church Sunday schools, the local WI, and a day nursery.
The building then lay empty from 2016 until the local community, through the CLT, raised the funds to buy the property in 2019, with the aim of rescuing the historic building and converting it to provide much-needed affordable homes for the local community.
The group raised community funds and loans to buy the building and, with a large grant from St Ives Town Deal to fund its redevelopment, worked hard to get it refurbished.
Despite having to overcome extra challenges and complications, from knotweed to unknown old burials discovered in the garden, their efforts persisted until the available funds came to an end. The trust is pleased with the successful redevelopment of the upper storeys, and is looking forward to the final construction stage by Three Seas.
The final build period is expected to be no more than six months and will be supported by a short-term finance loan from Resonance Community Developers.
Simon Ryan (left), of Three Seas Cornwall, with Matthew Hayter, of St Ives Community Land Trust
St Ives Community Land Trust has welcomed the agreement which will mean enable its affordable housing objective to be achieved.
“We’re really pleased to have agreed a deal with Three Seas that will bring in the final funds needed to complete the job and get these flats open for local people,” said Jill Block, from the CLT. “It’s a really good example of how community groups can be stronger when we come together.”
Three Seas manager, Simon Ryan, said: “Our access to the government money, which is aimed at exactly this kind of project, means that we can fill the gap and get the homes ready.
“The great news is that these will be secure social rent tenancies, so really and truly affordable, and available only to local people with a strong connection to the town. We’ll take on the long-term management of the flats and retain them as local homes in perpetuity.”
Andrew Baragwanath, chair of St Ives Town Deal Board, added: “One of the key aims of our Town Deal programme is to help provide more affordable homes for local people, and we have been working closely with the St Ives Community Land Trust and Cornwall Council to support the funding needed to complete this project.
“I am delighted that an agreement has been reached with Three Seas Cornwall and look forward to seeing the first tenants moving into their new homes in due course.”
