Old Vicarage Flats

Run and operated by the St Ives Community Land Trust, this project will see the renovation of the Old Vicarage building to provide 6 high quality and affordable flats for local residents in the heart of the town. 

 “So much of the news is taken up with report after report on the lack of affordable homes. This project aims to make a small start to change that by providing homes for locals in town. St Ives CLT is ready and we now await the Town Deal funding to complete the project. Its inclusion in the list of projects shows recognition by the government of how important this issue is to people in St Ives. Let’s now get on and finish the flats so people can be living in them.” 

You can find out more about the project on the CLT website: https://www.stivesclt.org.uk/ 

LATEST PROJECT NEWS 

Vice Chair of St Ives Town Deal Board Libby Buckley and St Ives MP and Town Deal Board Member Derek Thomas joined members of St Ives Community Land Trust earlier this week to see the work which has been taking place to renovate the Old Vicarage Flats building.

The first community-led housing project to be delivered in the town centre, the Old Vicarage Flats building is being converted to provide two 1-bedroom and four 2-bedroom high quality affordable flats for rent to local people.

Awarded £750,000 from the St Ives Town Deal Fund, the project received its first payment of £464,381 at the end of January from Cornwall Council. This enabled preparatory works to be carried out in the building ahead of the start of the main project. These have included removal of deteriorated lath and plaster, internal stud-wall demolition work, together with re-render and stabilisation of lime plaster where original granite walling could be seen. 

The CLT project team were pleased to be able to see and photograph the original structure before the new structural elements are added over the coming month.

Cllr Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council cabinet member for economy, said: “I’m delighted to see this project progressing well so soon after the first payment just over a month ago. This is just one of nine Town Deal projects taking place across St Ives as part of the £19.9m Town Deal funding which the community will start to notice taking shape with the first project completions due in 2024.”

They are hoping to hold an open event for local residents to see inside the building after Easter – full details to be provided once details are confirmed.

Known originally as the Parsonage and built in the late 1830’s, the building was home to the Vicars of St Ives until the early 1950’s when Canon Jenkin moved into a newly constructed vicarage off St Andrew’s Street. The building was then taken over by St Ives Borough Council who converted the upper stories into four flats while the ground floor was owned by Cornwall County Council and used by a number of local organisations, including a nursery, the local WI and camera club.

The Old Vicarage lay empty from 2016 until the local community through the St Ives Community Land Trust 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.

“We are keen to start work on the renovation and upgrading of the property and welcome the award of the Town Deal Capital Funding. It is a really exciting time to see significant progress being made, said Jill Block, Project Lead for St Ives Community Land Trust.

“The building is regarded with so much affection by many local residents, many of whom share their lifetime memories with us of occasions where it has been part of their lives in one way or another.”

The project has attracted widespread community support, successfully raising more than £240,000 through a community share issue in 2019 along with many individual donations. The Trust is supported by the Architectural Heritage Fund, Homes England and charitable groups and has also received donations from a number of local organisations such as the Rotary Club. It has also received a £30,000 grant from the Government’s Community Led Housing Fund and support from Cornwall Community Land Trust.

As well as enabling the St Ives Community Land Trust to purchase the building, this funding has enabled some preparatory works to be carried out in the building ahead of the start of the main project. 

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