Major Langarth Garden Village road opens to traffic

After almost a decade of waiting, the first physical sign that Langarth Garden Village is actually happening has arrived. And it comes in the shape of a 4km road.

Fordh Langarth, the major spine road running through Cornwall Council’s flagship Garden Village project, has formally opened to traffic. The route connects the A390 at West Langarth through to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, and its completion delivers on a promise the Council made when the project began eight years ago: that the infrastructure would come before the houses.

Council Leader Leigh Frost cut the ribbon to mark the opening. He said he was very grateful to everyone who had worked so hard to deliver the project and proud that the Council had kept its commitment to the local community.

“This is a massively important moment in Langarth Garden Village’s journey,” Leigh said. “Cornwall Council made a promise when they started this journey eight years ago, and that was that we would build the infrastructure first. And we have achieved this with the opening of Fordh Langarth.”

He added that while it had been a long road to get here, the priority had been getting it right for future residents and the surrounding communities.

“Our vision from the start of this project has been to build a community at Langarth, not a series of housing estates,” he said. “We have already got the Langarth Sports Hub, which is being used by Truro City Football Club, and the community centre will follow in conjunction with early housing delivery. This new road, which has been designed to provide safe, high-quality access for pedestrians and cyclists, is another step in creating this community. All we need now are the houses.”

A community, not housing estates

Cornwall Council’s Strategic Director for Sustainable Growth and Place, Phil Mason, was clear about why the wider development matters.

“We get challenged quite often about why we need all these new houses. The reason is very clear, we need to provide homes for the people of Cornwall, and these homes must be good quality homes where they can live as a part of a proper community,” Phil said.

“We want Langarth to be a place where people want to live, where they’ve got all the facilities that they need nearby and where they can just walk to a school, to a shop, or to work or catch a bus if they want to, not just jump into their cars.”

He pointed to the involvement of the local parish council and city council in shaping the development, which led to the football ground being one of the first things built. New community pitches are due in the coming months.

What the road actually delivers

Previously known as the Northern Access Road, the spine road runs west to east through Langarth Garden Village. It was funded by Homes England and designed and constructed by CORMAC.

The 4km road connects to the A390 at West Langarth (Penstraze) and East Langarth (Richard Lander school junction), with two side road connections to the nearby Quiet Lanes, plus links to the hospital and Treliske Industrial Estate.

There is a 20mph speed limit along its whole length. The route includes 3.5km of new segregated cycle lanes 3.5m wide, 8km of new footways 2m wide, and five pairs of bus stops at key locations.

Building it was a serious piece of civil engineering. Constructing a road across a valley meant excavating and then re-using 150,000m3 of material across the site. Unlike many major developments, all the excavated subsoil was stored on site before being reused elsewhere on the scheme, keeping material from going off site. The team also worked through long stretches of very challenging weather over the winter.

Stephen Worthington, Business Director for the Infrastructure Division of Cormac, said the project mattered hugely to the company.

“Our team has led this project from the initial concept in 2015, through to delivery, applying a fully integrated design-and-build approach at every stage,” Stephen said. “From early feasibility and optioneering, through to detailed design, procurement and construction, we are extremely proud to have taken it from a vision to a successfully delivered asset.”

He added that it was the first time Cormac had completed a construction project of this size, and that everyone who worked on it would look back with pride as the Garden Village is developed over the next 20 to 25 years.

Around 100 people were directly involved in the construction. Among them were resident ecologists and environmental specialists who worked to protect wildlife and increase biodiversity. CORMAC also worked with local schools and colleges to offer apprenticeships in areas such as construction, building and engineering, and the site led the way in introducing the Cormac T Level programme alongside Truro & Penwith College.

So when do the houses arrive?

Responsibility for turning the vision into reality sits with Langarth Garden Village LLP, a partnership between Cornwall Council and Treveth Holdings LLP set up in 2025. Portfolio Director Harry Lewis and his team are currently working with Cornwall Council and the South West’s top housebuilders, suppliers and tradesmen to finalise plans for the first new homes.

“The opening of Fordh Langarth is a major milestone,” Harry said. “It will enable us to make significant progress in our discussions with house builders with the aim of looking at spades in the ground during the next financial year.”

He said the team remained committed to delivering other key infrastructure early, including the first primary school, green spaces and community facilities. Plans for a stewardship scheme to manage the parks, urban squares, green spaces, water features, walking routes and community hubs are currently being finalised with the community.

Local Cornwall Councillor Dulcie Tudor welcomed the opening and said it set an important standard for the rest of the project.

“It is really good to see that pedestrians and cyclists have been given priority, with much wider than usual cycle lanes and pavements, and a 20mph speed limit throughout the whole of the route,” Dulcie said. “The design of the road meets the aspirations for Langarth Garden Village which are to provide a safe, environmentally friendly space for the people living, working and visiting the area.”

And she made clear she would keep the pressure on.

“This is certainly a very good start and, as the local member, I will be pushing for the other infrastructure, such as the community centre, the parks and green spaces and the schools to be delivered in tandem with the new housing and not afterwards.”

What Langarth Garden Village will eventually become

The full scheme is being delivered in five phases over a 20-to-25-year period. When complete, it will provide up to 3,600 high-quality homes, two primary schools, an energy centre, a park and ride extension, key utilities, community and retail centres, and live-work and co-living spaces, all supported by an integrated transport network.

Of the new homes, 35% will be affordable homes for local people, alongside homes for older people, people with disabilities, student health workers and other key workers.

The plans also include a wide range of community assets: the two primary schools, health facilities, parks and urban squares, green spaces, water features, cycle and walking routes, cultural facilities and community hubs. Planning permission for the first phase of parks, play spaces and infrastructure was approved during 2024. That phase includes children’s play areas, green gyms, a multi-use games area, non-motorised user paths, sustainable drainage features such as lakes and rain gardens, community allotments, a community orchard and a skatepark.

The first phase of the Langarth Sports Hub, a floodlit 3,000-capacity FA-compliant football pitch and stands, was completed at the end of July 2024, allowing Truro City Football Club to return home for the start of the 2024/2025 season. Work is now under way on the wider community sports and leisure facilities.

On housing, the project team will be looking to work with a small number of house builders to develop detailed plans for the first 750 new homes and community infrastructure over a five-year period. Every housebuilder will be expected to follow the Langarth Garden Village design code, intended to ensure the neighbourhood blends into its natural environment.