Cate Blanchett is withdrawing some of the plans for her £5m Cornish holiday home

A Hollywood actress who sparked outrage in a small Cornish village over building plans for her controversial holiday home has dropped some of her proposals. Cate Blanchett bought a demolished cottage in Mawgan Porth, near Newquay, in 2020 to build a sprawling three-storey, four-bedroom ‘eco-house’.

In January, CornwallLive reported that the 54-year-old Aussie star had also bought the adjoining land and submitted plans to develop it into a new housing access and parking area. However, the proposals have been met with backlash from the local community, who have expressed concern that the normally sleepy Cornish village is turning into ‘Hollywood-on-sea’ due to the influx of modern homes and celebrity residents.

Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton have been accused of “blatant land grabbing”, with people saying they broke the second plot just to stop another house next to theirs. They were also accused of causing huge disruptions with heavy construction traffic, earth diggers and noisy drilling machines during its construction.

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According to Cornwall Council’s planning portal, the application for a “change of use” for the land to turn part of it into a new access area and parking for four cars, has now been withdrawn. The withdrawal confirmation letter does not give any reason for the decision.

The proposed driveway and car park would have given her and her guests access to the hill level behind. A statement previously provided by her planning agent said: “The proposed re-development of (the house) and its replacement have been driven by a desire to make more efficient use of this unique site and to provide sustainable housing which can be happy by the applicant’s multigenerational family.

“The applicants purchased the land separately and subsequent to the purchase (of the house) specifically to ensure that the land was not developed with housing that would infringe on the amenity of their new home, which is on a relatively small plot area. compared to others in the area.

“The driveway and parking area have been carefully designed to minimize visual impact from the surrounding views, helping the wider field to remain a key landscape feature with every attempt to blend access seamlessly into the landscape.

“Within the wider landscape, the proposed access and parking area would not have a significant landscape impact and would not result in an unacceptable change to the character of the land.”

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