4.6%, 5.5%, 6.9% or 11.6% - take your pick! How much of Cornwall is developed?

rpwills
Oct 10, 2023
2 min read

There are various figures being quoted as to how much of the Cornish land area is developed or built on.

The CEO of Coastline housing in a recent interview (1), stated that “only 4.6 per cent of Cornwall overall is built on”, while the State of Nature (2) report gave a figure of 5.5%. Data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (3), suggests that developed land accounts for 6.9% of the land area of Cornwall. Analysis of the DLUHC data gives the higher total of 11.6%.

So why the different figures – misinterpretation of the data? Deliberate misquotes? We have to look at definitions and wording here. ‘Built on’ is a little nebulous – does it mean land with actual buildings on it? If so the DLUHC total of 6.9% is the correct figure – this includes all developed land including housing.

If we look at housing in isolation then the figure is 3.9%, consisting of actual land built on (0.7%) and gardens (3.2%). But of course we cannot look at housing in isolation. There is all what we could define as ‘support land’ associated with housing – industry, transport and utilities, and other developed areas. Housing is not some isolated activity, it needs other land to be developed!

To clarify ‘The State of Nature’ report does also have a figure for transport of 2.4%, so with built on at 5.5% producing a total of 7.9%.

To conclude, the total of 6.9% developed is the minimum figure, but 11.6% which takes into account all land which is associated with development is a more realistic figure.