90 new homes, 100% affordable
Responding directly to local need in Looe.
Planning context
The Government has committed to tackling the housing crisis. As a result, all councils are expected to allocate land to deliver enough homes to meet their housing needs.
Cornwall Council's housing requirement is to deliver around 4,421 homes each year across the county, which puts significant pressure on the Council to find deliverable and sustainable sites. It is expected that the Council does not have sufficient housing sites to provide supply for the next 5 years.
A mix of new sites will therefore be needed, with sites in well-served towns such as Looe providing a suitable and sustainable opportunity to deliver much needed homes in a timely manner.
Looe itself has an identified housing requirement and there are currently 220 households registered in need of affordable housing in Looe Parish (Cornwall Homechoice Register, November 2025).
The proposals would directly meet a significant share of that identified need in a single scheme through the provision of all 90 homes as affordable tenures for local people.
Affordable homes – the proposal at a glance
63 homes for social rent
Comprising:
- 24x one bed (16 maisonettes and 8 bungalows)
- 20x two bed
- 15x three bed
- 4x four bed
27 shared ownership homes
Comprising:
- 11x two bed
- 14x three bed
- 2x four bed
- A mix of house types up to a maximum of two storeys, including accessible bungalows, to respect the character of the area.
- As affordable homes, all 90 homes will be occupied by local households in housing need and cannot be used as second homes or holiday lets.
- Active road frontages and safe walking routes through the site.
- Locally distinctive architecture using Cornish materials.
- Sustainable homes built to a fabric first approach, with quality materials and electric vehicle charging, helping to keep energy bills low.
- On-plot parking and parking courtyards, so the development is not dominated by cars.
- Direct pedestrian access to the new supermarket.
Landscape, open space and drainage
New public open space will be provided to the east of the site, including circular walking paths and native planting, on what is currently private land. Strong landscape buffers will be provided around the site boundaries.
Surface water will be managed through Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), including permeable paving, drainage swales and attenuation basins, so that surface water is managed on site and there is no increase in flood risk elsewhere.
The proposals will deliver a 10% biodiversity net gain, through landscaped public open space and native planting.
MJL Group
MJL Group would be the contractor for the proposed homes.
Founded 25 years ago in Helston, the MJL Group has its roots firmly in Cornwall. With MJL Community Homes, MJL is building on those years of experience to answer the need for quality, affordable housing across Cornwall and the wider South-West.
Working closely with local Housing Associations, local communities, architects and planners, MJL aims to deliver homes that respond to the local needs. MJL's aim is simple: create well-built, energy-efficient affordable homes, next to the communities they are already calling home. No one should have to leave their roots behind, and with MJL Community Homes, they won't have to.
Coastline Housing
Coastline Housing will deliver the affordable homes aspect of the proposal.
Coastline is a charitable social landlord that owns over 5,000 homes across Cornwall. Coastline's ambition is to end the housing crisis in the county by developing new homes and investing in existing ones. This development will provide a secure long-term home for 90 of the over 200 families that are on the Cornwall Homechoice waiting list for Looe.