Celebrities and business tycoons have been criticised for taking over a small village in Cornwall with bizarre luxury homes, one which resembles a shipping container and another where the roof looks like a giant waterslide.
The stunning Cornish seaside village of Magwan Porth has become a magnet for high-end real estate.
The village has earned the nickname ‘Hollywood-on-Sea’ after a string of A-list celebrities snapped up properties – further pricing out the few remaining year-round residents.
Two lavish modern homes – one owned by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton, the other by Innocent smoothie co-founders Richard Reed and Jon Wright – have come under recent criticism.
According to planning documents submitted to Cornwall Council, Reed and Wright plan to share the property which will be used as a holiday residence.
The neighbouring properties are currently under construction after far more modest homes were bought for seven-figure sums, only to be razed to the ground.
Last lat year Cate was accused by a neighbour of ruining family holidays with construction noise from her five-bed eco home.
Karen Burgess, a holiday let owner, argued there had been a ‘total disregard’ over the noise which was costing her holiday let business money.
In a letter to Cornwall Council she added: ‘The losses are more than £60,000 last year and still we are having to advertise … as a property [affected] by building noise.
A-list actress Cate Blanchett’s clifftop house is nearing completion at Wamgan Porth
The bizarre home, which looks like a shipping container is reportedly costing £5million
Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton bought the former cottage in December 2020
Innocent smoothie co-founders Richard Reed and Jon Wright have built a house in the small village
‘We thought the [work on the property] was finally over and now there is a new application for groundworks.
‘This work should not be permitted during the holiday season. Never before in the bay have we ever experienced such a blatant disregard for the people who flock here for their holidays and residents’ enjoyment of the area during the holiday season.’
Representatives for Cate Blanchett denied the claims, blaming ‘mistaken identity’, but proposals for a new parking area and access to the property were later withdrawn.
Recently the village was chosen as the backdrop for ITV’s hit drama Playing Nice.
The intense four-part drama – starring James Norton – which concluded this week, is filmed in several locations in the county including Mawgan Porth’s sprawling beach.
Reed and fellow Cambridge graduate Wright earned a £320million fortune when they sold Innocent to Coca Cola in 2013.
When MailOnline visited this week, construction work on both properties appeared to be ongoing with diggers and earth-moving equipment still on site.
Actress Imogen Stubbs, Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan, and Hollywood actors Stanley Tucci and Jason Momoa are all said to have bought properties locally.
David Beckham and Kate Winslet have also been spotted on the beach.
The two properties overlook the beach where the nickname Hollywood-on-Sea has been coined due to the influx of actors
Construction work on both properties appeared to be ongoing with diggers and earth-moving equipment still on site
And with a number of flights daily between Newquay airport and Heathrow and designated landing areas for helicopters – international travel is easier than ever for the rich and famous travelling from afar to their Cornish bolthole.
NHS worker Kim Emmett, who has lived in the village since 1987, said demand for the chance to rub shoulders with celebrities had got so out of hand her mum has had people walk by her house and offer £2 million for it.
Kim, 51, said: ‘It has always been a popular holiday destination as it’s between Newquay and Padstow and near a National Trust hotspot. It’s become more and more popular every year. The locals have sold up here and the properties have been taken down and there’s modern complex, cube-shaped, Californian-style buildings instead of your 1930s bungalows.
‘There’s a lot of posh cubed modern buildings. Those properties are now going for over a million. You can’t buy a property here for under one million. Not one local can afford to buy anything here.’
Another upshot of the vast expanse of second homes is that in winter Mawgan Porth becomes a ghost town.
A local said this week: ‘I’ve barely seen another soul walking around, it would be spooky if we weren’t so used to it.
‘In summer you can barely move for people, it does bring the year-rounders closer together and there’s a nice little community and we support local businesses as much as we can but having such a stark difference is not ideal.’
The bizarre house with the waterslide roof sits atop the cliff edge overlooking the beach
Cate was accused by a neighbour of ruining family holidays with construction noise from her five-bed eco home
Former military medic Emma Keelan, 45, who now works as a dog walker lived in Mawgan Porth for almost 20 years but was forced out of the village and into temporary accommodation during Covid when her landlord decided to turn the rental property into a holiday let.
She said: ‘It’s unbelievable how all these celebrities and wealthy people behave. How much is enough? They’ve bought the houses for crazy amounts of money but they just want more and more.
‘If they get permission for this what next? Normal people already can’t afford to live here any more, look how it is in the winter, it’s a ghost town.
‘When I first moved here in 2002 there was livestock grazing the fields on that clifftop, now there’s just big houses that are empty for most of the year.
‘I’m sorry but I get so emotional about this.’
Another resident who has lived in Mawgan Porth for 18 years but didn’t want to be named said: ‘The whole situation with that road is a mess. It’s the lorries coming up and down, it’s a never ending building site.
‘It’s pretty grim to be honest. In the time I’ve been here it’s changed 100%. It’s not on really, especially when she doesn’t live here year round.
‘None of them live here full-time but it’s a non-stop building site, it’s not really fair to the people that do.
Residents of the village have become increasingly frustrated by the constant building work
‘Cate does support the community, her and her family go to the surf school and they’re actually really sound people.
‘But how much more do you need? She got permission for what she got but now wants more.
‘It’s grim but I can’t see this situation ever stopping in our lifetime.’
Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, there is little sign of the Mawgan Porth construction boom slowing any time soon. This week two other traditional properties in the village were listed for sale for £4million and £2.3million – complete with planning permission for a five-bedroom replacement.
