Cate Blanchett withdraws part of plans for her £5m Cornish holiday home

A Hollywood actress who sparked anger in a small Cornish village over building plans for her controversial holiday home has ditched part 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-home'.

In January, CornwallLive reported that the 54-year-old Australian star had also purchased the neighbouring plot of land and submitted plans to develop it into a new access and parking area for the home. However, the proposals were met with backlash from the local community who expressed concern that the ordinarily sleepy Cornish village is transforming into 'Hollywood-on-sea' due to an influx of modern homes and celebrity inhabitants.

Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton were accused of a "blatant land grab" with people saying they snapped up the second plot purely to stop another home shooting up next to theirs. They were also accused of causing huge disruption with heavy construction traffic, earth-moving diggers and noisy hammer drills during its construction.

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According to Cornwall Council's planning portal, the application for a 'change of use' of the field to turn part of it into a new access and parking area for four cars, has now been withdrawn. The letter confirming the withdrawal gives no reason for the decision.

The proposed driveway and car park would have given her and her guests level access to the hilltop pad from the rear. A statement previously provided by her planning agent said: "The proposed re-development of [the house] and its replacement was driven by the desire to make a more efficient use of this unique site, and to provide a sustainable dwelling that can be enjoyed by the applicant's multi-generational family.

"The applicants purchased the field site separately and subsequent to the purchase of [the house] specifically to ensure that the land was not developed with housing that could potentially encroach upon the amenities of their new home, which is sat within a comparatively constrained plot area when compared with others in the area.

"The driveway and parking area has been designed sensitively to minimise visual impact from surrounding vistas, helping the wider field to remain as a key landscape feature with every attempt made to blend the 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 in character of the land."

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