RESIDENTS on the Parc-An-Tansy housing estate in Camborne have united in protest against plans to build houses on a green space their children use for recreation.

On Sunday, around 50 people gathered on the green to make their feelings known about the proposed development for 20 homes from Coastline Housing Ltd.

The company wants to enlarge part of the estate by building on the playground and also removing a public footpath in Meneth Road.

Camborne town council's planning committee has already unanimously rejected the plan, but the final decision rests with Kerrier district council.

Local residents say they don't want the area to be concreted over, and will be lobbying Kerrier councillors to throw out the plan.

"Quite a few people turned up, so the turn-out was a success in that respect," said a spokesman for the action group formed to fight the plans. "We got a lot of support from the people who did arrive. We are going to keep it going. We are going to see about attending the next meeting at Kerrier and get as many residents as we can to get down there.

"We have got 250 to 300 individually signed petition letters which we are going to put in envelopes and then we are going to deliver them to the planning department. We have had a very good response from the general public. Everybody wants to keep the green space."

Bob Fish, from Coastline Housing, and a representative from Kerrier, were also invited to the protest to discuss the residents' concerns over the development, but they did not turn up. Town councillors were also invited, but only Jean Charman tendered her apologies.

"We wanted to give everybody the chance to express their views and have a one to one. We were really quite disappointed when those people didn't turn up," said the spokesman.

Residents have complained that they were not notified of the application and were only made aware of the plan through word of mouth, and those opposed to it going door to door alerting people.

The plans submitted by Coastline are scheduled to be discussed by Kerrier district council on October 2.

Bob Fish, area development manager for Coastline Housing, said: "Building new affordable housing for the local community is a crucial part of our mission as a housing association. Currently, over 18,000 families have registered for affordable rented housing in the county and many more are known to be in need but have despaired of ever joining a housing register.

"Local people in the Kerrier district desperately need more affordable housing and that is what we are striving to supply.

"We undertook pre-planning discussions with Kerrier district council regarding this project, and the council confirmed that this land was surplus to its requirements and suitable to be considered for affordable housing.

"We understand that the council has not designated this space as an official play area. Under the proposed plans, the public footpath will be altered slightly, but will remain.

"We are also working with West Cornwall Together, who are leading a proposal to enhance the current play and community facilities in this area for the benefit of the local residents."