Help Revitalise St Austell Town Centre

Aim

Help revitalise St Austell town centre by creating quality, affordable homes for local people: starting with our first four, at 9 Truro Rd.

Join us in revitalising St Austell Town Centre.

You are invited to invest in a co-operative community housing project supporting the revitalisation of key sites of community value in and around St Austell Town and quality affordable homes for local people.

St Austell Community Land Trust is a co-operative determined to make St Austell an attractive, vibrant, and truly affordable place to live.

Its Steering Committee, which first met in December 2025 in a meeting called by local MP Noah Law, with members drawn from people with key areas of expertise and a determination to make a difference for the town, has created a 3-phase plan to create quality affordable housing for local people working in the town, and is looking for Members to join on the first phase of its mission.

By redeveloping unused properties in St Austell, the CLT will create accommodation to suit working people and small families locally.

Working with other groups and Stakeholders, the CLT are focused on making St Austell a great place to live, and a great place to visit.

Our town used to be a jewel in the Cornish crown, and the CLT is passionate about rekindling the lost love for St Austell and its surrounding areas.

Please read the full details in our Share Offer and Business Plan (click to open):

Community Share Offer
Business Plan
Rules
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The CLT has selected the vacant townhouse at 9 Truro Road as its target property, having compiled and reviewed a pipeline of over 10 different potential sites for Phase 1 in and around St Austell town centre which could be suitable for conversion or redevelopment into affordable housing and mixed-use units.

Much of the real estate in the town centre remains in poor condition, with buildings suffering from poor energy efficiency and the need for structural work. Accordingly, property values are significantly lower than in other parts of Cornwall, rendering them an attractive investment proposition to a social developer able to undertake the additional work required to ensure the success of the project.

Like many town centres across the county and beyond, St Austell suffers from a high number of vacant properties. These voids lead to the perception that the town centre is in decline, which brings with it a number of problems for the local community.

St Austell was once a vibrant and wealthy area. Many of the buildings that have not been maintained carry significant history great aesthetic value. We believe that these buildings can be brought back into use, in order to allow the town centre to become the heart of the community once more.

We see the initial Phase 1 project for the CLT as the:

Revitalisation of 1 large, prominent vacant site in St Austell;
Provision of 4 community-owned homes at LHA-rate rents, contributing to local affordable housing need;
Retention of housing as a community-owned, asset-locked resource in perpetuity with the ability to deliver further on these goals in future;
Increased housing security and stability for local residents;
Contribution to local economic resilience through increased occupancy and footfall in the town centre; and,
Improvement of EPC rating for all homes to at least a rentable rating.

The CLT’s targets in terms of expected community benefit are straightforward and, for the most part, measurable with relatively limited additional research.

Target customers are local key workers, professionals and small families with a strong connection to St Austell and its surrounding parishes who are unable to access suitable, secure, and genuinely affordable housing through the open market.

Analysis of the housing rental market in St Austell town in May 2026 shows the average rental price per calendar month for a studio or 1-bed property being £682, and a 2-bed property being £1,029. However, it is important to note that this is a small sample size with high variance, with studios and 1-beds varying from £500 to £895 depending on individual factors, and with high-quality or newly-renovated 2-bed properties going for up to £1,150. Whilst affordable rents are pegged at 80% of market value, we are focusing on delivering self-contained, LHA-rate, community-owned properties of a high quality, as we believe "truly affordable" social-rate rentals are the right thing to deliver for St Austell.

Evidence from the CLTN Report – The Housing Crisis in St Austell and Newquay: Community-led Solutions – highlights acute unmet need among:

Single people and small households, who make up the majority of local households, but who are poorly served by the existing housing stock, which is dominated by larger family homes
Low‑ and modest‑income working households, including those employed in key local sectors such as health, social care, hospitality, retail, education, and local services, where wages are significantly below the national average and housing costs are out of reach
People in housing need on the Cornwall Homechoice register, including households experiencing homelessness, overcrowding, poor housing conditions, or insecurity in the private rented sector, with particularly high levels of need in St Austell and nearby communities
Local residents displaced by high house prices, second home ownership, and short‑term lets, which have reduced the availability of homes for year‑round occupation and weakened community cohesion

The CLTN report also identifies strong demand for smaller, affordable rental homes and genuinely affordable routes to long‑term housing security, delivered through community‑led models that retain homes in perpetuity for local benefit.

Traditional property developers do not find the revitalisation of town centres to be attractive propositions. They perceive the risk to reward ratio to not be adequate enough to warrant taking on such projects, a perception that is hampered by high levels of institutional ownership of town centre properties, where landlords are able to stand the financial cost of the vacancies, and are not prepared to invest in alternative solutions.

The CLT’s projects are focused on changing that mindset and meeting long‑term local housing needs, prioritising affordability, security of tenure, and stewardship for future generations, by revitalising town centres rather than serving the wider or speculative housing market.

We need to raise a minimum of £200,000 - and an optimum of £250,000 - to support our CLT's seedling project in our wider dream of bringing the heart back to St Austell.

The offer for this share scheme will open on 4th July 2026 and close on 4th October 2026, with the Directors reserving the right to extend by 6 months.

This offer is open to anyone aged 18+, but we hope it will appeal, in particular, to those who have a strong interest in working together to support the revitalisation of the town.

Alongside this share offer, we are seeking external investment and grant funding from external partners, including match funding. We will update everyone on the progress of these ongoing talks as the process continues.

Key details:

Share price: £1
Minimum investment per local person: £20 (“Local person” is defined as someone who permanently resides, studies, or works in Cornwall.)
Minimum investment per non-local: £40 (“Non-local” is defined as someone who does not permanently reside, study, or work in Cornwall.)
Minimum investment per institution: £100 (“Institution” is defined as a business, organisation or institution, including institutional investors and local authorities. Institutions such as Booster Equity Match and Co-operative and Community Finance may hold more than 10% of the total share capital and will hold shares on the same terms and conditions as everyone else.)
Maximum individual investment: 10% of total share capital
Minimum raise: £200,000
Target raise: £250,000
Maximum raise: £350,000

What you'll receive:

Target 2% interest, with withdrawals opening from year 3 (not guaranteed). Option to reinvest interest into future projects, take interest payments, or take interest as further share capital.
Your name recorded on our site.
Full voting rights in our One Member, One Vote system, exclusive of investment size - including attending AGMs and standing for election to the Board.

St Austell has every right to be an affordable, thriving town for local families to enjoy. With your help, we can deliver it. Thank you.

Team St Austell CLT - Noah, Jake, Kylie, Giles, Andrew, Angela, Hugh, Sandra and Ant

Risk warning: Any money you invest in community shares is fully at risk. You could lose some or all your money if the society gets into financial difficulty. Community share offers are exempt from, or outside the scope of, statutory regulations that apply to the public offer of shares and other financial promotions. Applicants have no recourse to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service. Get in touch with any questions: [email protected]