Hollywood star Cate Blanchett and her husband have spent almost £3 million on two prime building plots in an exclusive Cornish seaside town, MailOnline can exclusively reveal today.
Land registry documents seen by MailOnline reveal the actress, 54, and Andrew Upton, 56, bought an old cottage in Mawgan Porth – nicknamed ‘Hollywood-On-Sea’ by locals due to its new popularity with celebrities – for £1 .6 million in December 2020.
A year later the Australian couple paid a further £1.25 million for a piece of adjacent land directly above.
Their construction work has infuriated neighbors, who have accused the Lord of the Rings star and her playwright husband of damaging a sensitive coastal nature reserve by knocking down the ‘sweet little house’ and replacing it with a much larger ‘eco -house’.
They also claim they have been inconvenienced for months by heavy construction traffic, earth-moving machinery and noisy jackhammers being used to sink the foundations of the new property.
Mawgan Porth has seen an explosion of interest among A-listers and celebrities looking for a Cornish retreat. Property buyers in the village include Aquaman’s Jason Momoa and 50 Shades of Gray star Jamie Dornan.
A spokesperson for the couple told MailOnline that they were building a ‘sustainable replacement home’, ‘sensitive, sustainably designed and in consultation with the local planning authority to minimize the impact of the development on the beautiful surrounding area.’
Film star Cate Blanchett and her husband (pictured at the 43rd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards in February this year) have spent almost £3 million on two prime building plots in Mawgan Porth in Cornwall
The two plots where a new house is being built that probably belongs to Cate Blanchett
Builders were seen carrying out their renovation work on the site in the Cornish town
According to a local resident, who runs a maintenance company for holiday home owners, the land purchase was made to stop any new construction in the area.
He said: ‘They had to secure both locations to prevent prying eyes along the line. Both were investigated to identify and protect rare and sensitive coastal plants. But now, when you look at the size of that construction site, you wonder how many of them survived.
‘People are really upset because this, and the multi-million pound developments built nearby by others, have completely changed the character of a beautiful bay and the south west coast path around it.’
Longtime residents are particularly angry about Mrs Blanchett’s development of the old cottage.
Patricia Marland, who has lived in Mawgan Porth for 50 years, said: ‘The original cottage used to have a lot of land around it, which was great for wildlife. Now they seem to be building to the very edge of the plot. It feels like they left nothing for the birds or the insects – not even a bee or worm.
“People who have lived here for a while have noticed that there is less and less wildlife and that large construction sites like hers are playing a role in that.”
Cat Walker, a full-time resident aged 33, said: ‘It’s the sheer size of the place they’re building – that’s what upsets me. I don’t expect people who move here to keep everything exactly the same. But at least keep a certain proportion.
‘We’ve had all these disruptions for months: the drilling drills, the cement trucks, the rubble trucks carrying away tons of demolished construction rubble. From my garden I can see the farmland across the valley where everything is dumped. So many places have been destroyed that half of Mawgan Porth, as I knew it, is still there.’
Mawgan Porth (pictured, stock photo) has been nicknamed ‘Hollywood-On-Sea’ by locals due to its newfound popularity with celebrities
Photos show that construction work is taking place on the plot
Other celebrities are believed to have snapped up properties in Mawgan Porth (photo, stock image)
The coastal town is located on the north coast of Cornwall, close to Newquay
Another resident, who grew up in the village, told MailOnline: ‘I remember what used to be on Cate Blanchett’s plot. It was a sweet little house. I am angry about what is happening there because I am passionate about the destruction of our coastal heathland.
“Cliff birds, for example, are just pushed into smaller and smaller areas because of what feels like someone’s greed.
“It’s not just her place. All these new houses have arisen because privileged people can afford to build them. The poorer families – the kids with their buckets and spades that I saw everywhere as a child – cannot afford to stay here on holiday – let alone live here.’
Another local resident, who works for several holiday home owners, said: ‘They give me and others work so that’s important.
‘But there are simply too many second homes now. Mawgan Porth gets a lot of attention for its scenery and surf, and people with money who come from the city decide they want this lifestyle.
“Well, okay, but that’s displacing families that have had roots here for generations. The town is full of what I would call surfing yuppies with surfing kids, most of whom add nothing to the community.”
However, some full-time residents with homes directly overlooking Ms Blanchett’s land supported her plans. One said: ‘It’s a building site. It’s temporary. It will go. Get over it.” Another told MailOnline that the builders were ‘quite considerate – they don’t start work until after 9am most days’, while a third accused protesters of ‘just causing trouble.’
When contacted by MailOnline, a representative for Ms Blanchett referred us to a statement from Watershedd Architects which said: ‘Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett have received planning permission for a sustainable replacement home in Mawgan Porth. Modest in size, it has been sensitively, sustainably and designed in consultation with the local planning authority to minimize the impact of the development on the beautiful surroundings.
‘Throughout the process, we have been working with our clients in regular contact with friendly and accommodating neighbors to ensure they were aware of our construction programme, even pausing work during the high season holidays to reduce the expected construction noise and disruption to be kept to a minimum.
‘Our contractor Noble Construction is always ready to speak to people from the local community if they have any questions about the construction process.’
North and West Cornwall boast some of the most spectacular surfing beaches in Europe, top chefs such as Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Nathan Outlaw have restaurants along the coast, while daily flights from Heathrow to Newquay and dedicated helipads have made the area easily accessible to wealthy buyers.
Cornwall Council has warned it will impose ‘an additional council tax premium’ on second homes, provided the Government’s Leveling-Up and Regeneration Bill becomes law next year.
In Mawgan Porth, however, full-time residents believe such an increase will make little difference to wealthy stars like Ms Blanchett.
“She paid the best part of £3million for that building site,” one person told Mail Online. “And that was before a builder even got his boots in the mud.
“She’s hardly going to worry about handing over a few thousand more dollars to the city.”
