Former vicarage turned into affordable homes

An "exciting" community housing project aimed at affordable homes for people who grew up in St Ives has been launched.

Housing provider Three Seas Cornwall has worked with St Ives Community Land Trust to secure funding to bring the empty former vicarage in the town back into use and plans to offer six flats at rents of around £400 a month.

Three Seas Cornwall manager Simon Ryan said the flats would be "very low rent, properly secure, decent housing for people who grew up in this community."

Tegan Veal, who grew up in St Ives, said it was hard to find affordable homes in the town and added "finding opportunities like this is super exciting, heart-warming."

The 21-year-old said: "It would be amazing to be able to live in St Ives. It would be really lovely and especially at an affordable price, [it's] quite hard to find."

She added: "I'm hoping to be able to carry on living in town."

Veal said the housing market in St Ives was "really hard because so many of the houses here are not lived in all the year round, they're very much seasonal and holiday rentals or properties".

She said she "never really thought" it would be possible to find an affordable place to live in her hometown.

"Having grown up here and seen the prices increase of everything around me, you kind of get used to the idea of thinking 'I'd love to live where I've grown up and live at home but that might not be the case', so finding opportunities like this is super exciting, heart-warming," Veal added.

Ryan said the conversion of the Grade II listed building would "make a lot of difference to St Ives."

He added: "We are 100% focused on local homes for local people."

"To be able to provide housing in this area where families can live and work is just amazing" he said.

Applicants would be ranked on their connection to the parish and their housing need.

The conversion includes two-bed flats - so the properties could accommodate families, Ryan said.

The final stage of the building work was expected to last six or seven months and Ryan said the first tenants could move in from about March or April 2027.

Applications for the flats were expected to go live by the end of the year.

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.