The King took the Prime Minister on a personal tour of his passion housing project where he was thanked for changing the lives of residents. Charles travelled to Cornwall with Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy, Angela Rayner, to give them a guided walk around Nansledan, a major 540-acre extension to the seaside town of Newquay. The monarch set plans in motion for the new development back in 2014, when he was Prince of Wales.
The Duchy of Cornwall development will see up to 3,700 homes built in a new environmentally-friendly community with its own primary school, parkland, shops and businesses. Sir Keir and Ms Rayner, who is also secretary for state for housing, communities and development, are said to be keen to see how a mixed use development works in line with their own much-debated pledge to build 1.5 million new homes in the UK within the next five years.
Sources said the King had discussed housing with the prime minister during several of their meetings over the past few months. As a result, Charles offered to show him around Nansledan, to see what the Duchy of Cornwall had achieved. After visiting a community orchard and kitchen, the King and his guests walked to Nansledan School, a two-form entry primary school, designed and built by the Duchy of Cornwall and officially opened by His Majesty in March 2020.
Across fourteen classrooms it now hosts 361 pupils, with a total capacity of 420 pupils. The school has been designed to promote the ‘sustainable ethos’ of the Nansledan urban development to inform and shape their curriculum. The King, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister were greeted by 90 flag-waving pupils, with one youngster cheekily asking Charles: “Do you live in a palace?”. Inside the trio stepped into the sports hall to watch the children taking part in a variety of activities. Upstairs they split as the king went into a cooking class while the politicians sat in on a science lesson. Both were looking at the difference of substances such as bicarbonate of soda and flour.
The King chatted away with the children who were among vanilla cupcakes, peppering the children with questions about what they were making. “Is this part of a special project?” he asked. “Are you giving this a good mix?”. When one of the children told him the mixture kept getting stuck in his whisk, he said: “Oh that’s really annoying isn’t it? You can get a knife and try and dig it out. At what point is it ready?By the time you go home will you to have them ready to eat?”.
The Nansledan development promotes low carbon lifestyles through the provision of low carbon housing, within walking distance of workspaces, shops, infrastructure and community facilities, all set within a diverse and active environment which enhances local biodiversity, amenity and physical and mental health. It even features bee bricks for solitary bees; bird boxes for swifts, sparrows, starlings and house martins; and fruit trees, orchards and allotments to promote home-grown produce and healthy eating.
Cornish granite and slate drawn from quarries in Cornwall feature in many buildings and structures. The monarch was particularly enthused by the school’s new gardening facilities where some of the younger were planting out herbs they could touch, smell and taste. They also stopped by a wood pile jokingly named “Buginham Palace”, prompting a chuckle from the King. Afterwards The King, Sir Keir and Ms Rayner took a five minute stroll to the nearby Kew An Lergh development to meet businesses and members of the local community at Sabzi Café, before viewing the recently opened Nansledan Community Centre.
One woman told the king: “You’ve made it a dream to live here. Thank you, thank you so much.”. Many of the locals appeared to either know the king or have met him personally previously, warmly greeting him. The King and his guests also visited the newly opened Nansledan Community Centre, which provides a venue for cultural events, support groups and wellbeing sessions, and met a family of refugees from Afghanistan who told him how much they loved it there.
