Cornwall's councils asked to support 'micro home' sites

Cornwall Council bought 29 modular one-bedroom homes earlier this year to help ease the housing crisis

Town and parish councils in Cornwall are being asked by the countywide unitary authority to support work to help ease the housing crisis.

Cornwall Council wants to put modular housing units which can sleep up to three people on council-owned car parks across the county.

Council leader Linda Taylor said she was calling for smaller local authorities to help.

She said all councils had to "absolutely ... make a difference."

Cornwall Council bought 29 modular one-bedroom homes at the beginning of the year to help ease the local housing crisis.

Cambridge City Council has also bought a number of the micro homes and has them set up

Many are being sited at Old County Hall and County Hall on the outskirts of Truro, but sites are being sought for others and ones hoped to be bought in the future.

Mrs Taylor said she was asking other councils to "please work with us where we are wanting to deliver them" by providing sites.

She added: "More importantly, for the towns and parishes where we want to try and move people in, please can we have your support.

"They [the homes] are going to go in in smaller numbers, but we absolutely have to try and make a difference."

The call from Mrs Taylor come after figures revealed in June that the number of people registering for council homes and affordable housing in Cornwall had more than doubled in less than two years.

Cornwall Council said there were about 9,000 households on its Homechoice Register in March 2020, but the figure was 21,200 by January 2022 and 22,423 by May 2022.