THE EMPTY QUARTER?

Lord Falmouth’s Tregothnan Estate’s ethnic cleansing of “Gunn Valley” to make way for holiday lets raises some serious questions.

To say that the short reach of the River Fal from King Harry to Tolverne is idyllic, would not be an understatement.

The west bank opens up via Roundwood into Cowlands Creek and the hamlet of Coombe, which was once so isolated that it had no road access until 1926.

The land and all that stands on it is owned by the sprawling Tregothnan Estate, as are tens of thousands of acres more, stretching from Clay Country down to the Lizard and West Penwith, along with the extensive mineral rights under the land.

There is also a very substantial further estate in Kent, where the father of Tregothnan’s current incumbent, lives in retirement.

Given its idyllic location, it is entirely logical that Lord Falmouth views his Coombe land holding as a lucrative cash cow, once the long-standing tenants are removed and their picturesque cottages modernised to premium standards.

Good business indeed, if that were the only factor involved.

The history of Coombe primarily revolves around two families whose roots stretch back into the mists of time, and who mainly earned their livelihoods from oysters, plums and the bark stripped from coppiced oak for leather tanning, along with the residual firewood.

No one got rich quickly, but down the years, astuteness, thrift and hard work forged a basic prosperity that ensured the incumbents, the Gunn and Ferris families, held their own with dignity, through good times and bad.

The Kea plum is a unique variety that only grows well in the Coombe area, close to the water, in the orchards tended by the local inhabitants. It is sold, each autumn, to eager local buyers, to make the coveted Kea Plum jam, which is the perfect ingredient for a classic cream tea.

Along with taking back the houses, as tenants drop out, Tregothnan is also taking control of the plum orchards, discouraging others from making plum jam with the presumed intention of “corporatising” the unique Kea plum brand.

At one point, the former Truro Rural District Council built four council houses in Coombe, which were later sold off under the "right to buy"; so anxious are Tregothnan to take Coombe back completely, that they have to date bought three of the former council houses, as these have come on the market; the fourth appears to be only a matter of time.

This beautiful hamlet encapsulates the consequences of holiday accommodation, displacing the original residents to the point where a community becomes sterile, ceasing to exist in any meaningful form.

Tregothnan Estates’ track record in recent years does it little credit; there have been repeated rumours of massive (Australian) gambling debts as well as a costly divorce draining finances; the Tregothnan-owned Goonvean China Clay company was sold to Imerys and the now notorious Tolgarrick Farm was sold to Persimmon Homes (after waiting “patiently” for the last generation of dairy farmers at the site to die of cancer).

Tregothnan also owned the land that the controversial Cornwall waste-to-power incinerator now occupies at Parkandillick, near St Dennis, along with Bodelva Pit that now houses the Eden project.

There is also potential significant future income from lithium production via royalties.

The estate would be much better regarded if it were to build affordable rented homes around the estates’ area to counteract the effect of turning every existing home into classy holiday lets.

While it is fully appreciated that estates of this nature need to operate on a financially viable commercial basis, their very nature and scale suggest that they also need to be aware of the social responsibility which owning so much property generates.

Given a different approach, it might be within their remit to solve many of Cornwall’s housing difficulties, but the real question must be whether Tregothnan is a financial back hole that is absorbing much of Cornwall’s natural wealth… but returning nothing.

Not a million miles from Prince Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall estate, the other large holding which itself is never shy of large and locally hugely unpopular corporate developer deals.