Penzance residents welcome £1m estate facelift

Corinne Brown said the investment would help to make the estate she loves look more up-to-date

A housing estate where residents earn some of the lowest wages in England is set to get a £1m facelift.

Shops, playing fields and homes are all due to be improved on the Treneere estate in Penzance, Cornwall, and work could start before Christmas.

Housing association LiveWest would fund the work with the aim of improving the neighbourhood's look and feel.

Corinne Brown, who runs Treneere's fish and chip shop, said it was exactly what the estate needed.

The shopping area will be one of the first to be targeted for a facelift and it is hoped the work will be completed in time for Christmas

Under the plans, the shopping area would be renovated, new roofs would be installed on about 100 houses and more than 300 homes would be cleaned and redecorated.

Leanda Flower, from LiveWest, said the organisation hoped the initial investment, which was due to come from revenue funding, would be a catalyst for further investment and work.

"Critical to all of this is the involvement of the community and residents here," she said.

"There is a fantastic community here and we are really keen to harness their energy and enthusiasm and ideas into shaping the project."

Housing association bosses said they hoped there would be opportunities for residents to upskill and get involved in project planning.

The foodbank has already benefited from the plans with the housing association asking one of its contractors to carry out works to stop their store getting so damp

Treneere estate has ranked very low on the government's deprivation index.

The index showed income on the estate was in the bottom 1% in the country and, according to the Office of National Statistics, employment in Penzance fell by 10.4% between 2009 and 2017.

Live West has supported Penzance Foodbank, which is based in a small building behind Treneere's shops.

Manager Christine Gendall said the housing association was helping the foodbank with anti-damp work in its building and was "certainly working very hard in the community".

About 100 homes on the estate will be getting new roofs in a bid to make energy bills more affordable for residents while another 300 homes will be redecorated and cleaned

Debbie Sims, from the residents association, said: "I think for the residents it is going to be great for them to be able to see their houses look a bit nicer aesthetically.

"For people coming through the estate it is going to look really nice. I am really excited."