26th June 2026

• The Duchy of Cornwall has published its 2026 Integrated Impact Report, setting out a new strategy with a £500m investment over the next decade into five geographic heartlands.
• The report highlights a year of delivery across housing, nature recovery, farming, net zero and local economies, including the first homes created to directly address homelessness in Nansledan, a resolution to grant planning approval for South East Faversham and the Duchy’s first net zero Focus Farm.
• Alongside publication of this report, The Duke of Cornwall has announced that £1.5m a year in Dartmoor Prison rent will now be redirected to invest in supporting Princetown and the local area impacted by the closure, with Dartmoor being one of five heartlands identified in the new strategy.

The Duchy of Cornwall has today published its 2026 Integrated Impact Report, marking a significant moment in the organisation’s evolution as it sets out a new strategy to increase its long-term social and environmental impact.

The report also confirms a £500m commitment over the next decade to invest in the communities and landscapes the Duchy serves, supporting work across housing, local economies, nature recovery, net zero, renewable energy and long-term estate resilience.

Alongside the publication of the report, the Duchy has announced plans to reinvest rental income from the Dartmoor Prison site into Princetown and Dartmoor. The Ministry of Justice holds a lease which currently pays the Duchy £1.5 million a year for the site, and this income will be invested into the local community, recognising the impact of the prison closure. As part of the wider investment, the Duchy will launch a community-led regeneration fund which will be managed in partnership with the community and focused on delivering long-term social, economic and environmental benefits, from supporting community facilities and local businesses to nature recovery across the area.

The report, which covers the year ended 31 March 2026, sets out the Duchy’s mission to become a world-leading impact organisation, focused on delivering resilient, vibrant and prosperous communities and ecosystems, now and into the future.

Building on the progress set out in this year’s report, the new strategy focuses the Duchy’s work across four connected outcomes: building healthy communities, restoring nature at scale, delivering a net zero future and securing long-term financial resilience.

A central part of the strategy is focusing on where the organisation can have the biggest impact. The Duchy will concentrate its work in five heartlands: Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, Dartmoor, Bath & surrounding areas and Kennington in London. These are places where the Duchy has deep roots, a wide mix of assets and the ability to work with partners to deliver significant long-term change.

Across these heartlands, the Duchy will concentrate on responding to the challenges facing local communities and landscapes, from creating new homes and support for local economies, to nature recovery, farming resilience, renewable energy and reaching net zero. The aim is to bring together social, environmental and financial impact, rather than treating them as separate agendas.

The focus on these areas will not be exclusive. The Duchy also sees important opportunities across the wider estate, including in regenerative farming and community building in places such as Herefordshire and Faversham.

Delivering this ambition will require the Duchy to create additional capacity for reinvestment. As part of this approach, it will continue to rebalance its portfolio over the next decade, enabling it to focus resources on the places where it sees the greatest need and the strongest opportunity to deliver lasting social, environmental and economic benefit.

“Over the past year, we have created space for reflection, listening and discussion with partners, colleagues, tenants and those who challenge us. Through these conversations, a clear theme emerged: the Duchy has an opportunity to make bold decisions and use its assets, capital and influence more deliberately to support positive social and environmental outcomes.”

“We see growing pressures on multiple fronts – from the need for good homes and stronger local economies to restoring nature and responding faster to climate change. In response, we are willing to take bold decisions to transform our communities and to do more, to go further and to make a meaningful difference, for generations to come.”

“Our purpose is clear: to deliver resilient, vibrant and prosperous communities and ecosystems, now and into the future. By using our resources thoughtfully and responsibly, we can help drive positive change while securing a sustainable financial future.”

Over the past year, clear progress has been made against the Duchy’s social and environmental goals, with momentum across housing, nature recovery, farming, mental health and local economies.

In its work to build healthy communities, the Duchy welcomed buyers and renters into more than 1,000 homes across Poundbury and Nansledan, while in South East Faversham secured a planning resolution for a new 2,500-home community, including 900 affordable homes, directly responding to local housing need.

On the Isles of Scilly, the Duchy made a £2.95m investment in the first phase of essential-needs housing - its largest infrastructure investment on the islands in two decades. Ten new sustainable homes are now being built, with 20 more to come, helping to address local housing need for people who have lived on the islands for more than five years, or who currently work there.

Work to address homelessness also moved forward. In Newquay, the Duchy’s project with St Petrocs and Homewards, funded by The Duke of Cornwall’s Charitable Foundation, has completed 16 independent and supported homes, with a further eight to come. In Kennington, the Duchy is preparing to bring forward what will be one of its most ambitious projects yet, a major mixed-use development. Further details will be announced in due course.

Local economic resilience has also been a focus. In Nansledan, the Duchy approved over £20m for Market Street, the new commercial heart of the community, which will provide 75,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and workspace, supporting more than 20 businesses and creating over 100 jobs.

Progress has also continued on environmental initiatives with £5.5m invested across the estate including net zero, future farming and woodland programmes. On Dartmoor, the Duchy is working with partners on a 20-year vision for landscape and nature recovery, alongside continued peatland restoration and a commitment to double the extent of Duchy-managed Atlantic rainforest by the early 2040s.

Across the wider estate, farms – including the seven Focus Farms - are working to improve soil health, reduce inputs and cut emissions, with the Duchy celebrating its first net zero Focus Farm, Tregooden Farm in Cornwall.

For the year ended 31 March 2026, the Duchy reported a distributable surplus of £21.6m. While marginally down from last year, the dip in surplus reflects a deliberate strategic choice to invest significantly in building the organisation’s capacity and capability over the coming years to deliver a more ambitious agenda.

“It’s been a year of significant change. Whilst that brings renewed strategic clarity, it also brings inevitable turbulence as we organise around a new mission and grow a culture of purpose and impact. The great strength of the Duchy will always be its long-term perspective and opportunity to think systemically. We balance that with a real desire to take positive and urgent action on issues that require leadership to deliver lasting benefit for the communities we serve.”