A proposed sustainable building for a Falmouth residential area has been condemned as "absolutely ludicrous."

Councillor Mike Varney even went so far as to say, "in all the years I've been on the planning this is the most hideous that's been put before me," when the plans were raised at a meeting of Falmouth town council's planning committee.

The application was submitted by Mr and Mrs A Berry from Melvill Crescent, who hoped to knock down their existing derelict garage and build a two-storey sustainable house on the same site.

The proposal provoked outrage from neighbours, eight of which attended the meeting to tell councillors their concerns.

Simon Sanders, spokesman for the group, said: "I think all the residents of the crescent are very much opposed to this, mainly on the basis that it seems like over-development to us. It's going to occupy a space that gives Melvill Crescent its feel - it's a nice, open, leafy area. That corner, for everyone looking down the road, gives an open feeling. We think it's just going to stand out and be an eyesore."

He described the plans as looking "like the back of Tesco." Mr Sanders said that he could also not understand why the building had to be two-storey, when the majority of the properties in the area were single storey.

Another resident said: "This looks like an industrial unit and would be better suited to Tregoniggie Industrial Estate. It is hideous and we are going to have to look at this long after the people who built this move on. That's an incredibly un-neighbourly thing to do - to force this upon us."

Councillors unanimously agreed to recommend that the application be refused planning permission, although Carrick district council's planning committee will ultimately make the final decision.

Falmouth members objected to it on the grounds that it would not be in-keeping with the area, would be over-development of the site, cause a loss of neighbour's amenities and was of a bad design. They also requested that the decision was not made under the delegation scheme, but should go before the full planning committee.