During a rare joint visit, King Charles gave British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy PM and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, a tour of his environmentally friendly, sustainable housing project in Cornwall. The Nansledan project aims to bring together traditional building materials, sustainable living arrangements, and training projects. The King wanted the politicians to witness the development’s innovative efforts for sustainable living while avoiding political involvement.
The building of new homes is currently a top priority for the British government, with the target of building 1.5 million new homes by 2029. The King meets the prime minister each week for an audience and at many public occasions, and they are said to have a good relationship. During Monday’s visit to Nansledan, the trio explored its deep-rooted community infrastructure, meeting with local residents and visiting businesses, a training kitchen, a primary school, and an orchard that supports 45 jobs.
Nansledan aims to provide an innovative take on housing development that follows the King’s environmental principles, with natural green spaces, local materials, and training in building skills. Resident behavior rules emphasise a community code intended to preserve the streets’ overall look by preventing any alterations to the fronts of houses. As a project initially initiated while Charles was the Prince of Wales, the aim was to construct 3,700 houses, and to date, 840 houses have been built.
As a key issue for the British government, the housing industry comes under steady pressure to increase the number of new homes built and improve affordability. Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, emphasised the government’s commitment to fulfilling the promise of the 1.5 million new homes and revealed that there can be no excuse for not building these homes. During her visit to Nansledan, Rayner and the politicians highlighted the importance of teaching skills, which is relevant as the construction industry has warned that housebuilding targets will be impossible to meet due to a lack of staff- partly due to an ageing workforce and Brexit
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