DESPITE a plea to not allow a river front road to become like Benidorm, an application to demolish a bungalow and replace it with a 'grossly oversized concrete eyesore' overlooking Falmouth Marina has been given the go-ahead by Cornwall Council.

At meeting of Cornwall Council's planning committee this week, councillors gave permission to replace the bungalow with two houses and five apartments, associated parking and landscaped amenity space at 22 North Parade, Falmouth.

The application to demolish the 1930s bungalow on the site attracted up to 18 comments of objection but this failed to sway councillors on the county council's planning committee who approved it.

Many of the residents who opposed the scheme said that it was an overdevelopment of the area and too high and said that replacing one bungalow was excessive with not enough space given over to green amenity spaces in an area which is known for one storey bungalows and plenty of green spaces.

In her objection to Cornwall Council, Helen Morris who owns a bungalow on North Parade, said the road was in danger of looking like Benidorm in Spain with the number of apartments that were now being built there.

"Please don't allow north parade to become Benidorm," she said. "I am very concerned that by allowing this and other future developments to go ahead on North Parade, it will become a street of high-rise apartments which will look completely out of place in this lovely residential area with lots of 1930's style bungalows and green spaces.

"Please respect the wishes of the residents of North Parade: I have spoken to many residents on North Parade and they are strongly objecting to this development as it is detrimental to them on many levels."

While Mrs Anne Marie Sincock said that the proposed development was not in keeping with the rest of the properties along North Parade and would create an concrete eyesore, blocking the 'beautiful' view.

"The loss of light this proposal will cause is significant to those properties in close proximity," she said. "As well as intrusion of people's privacy from overlooking into neighbouring properties. I fail to understand why anyone would support this grossly oversized concrete eyesore and spoil the street scene and beautiful river glimpses alone this picturesque road into Falmouth."

But her pleas failed to stop the application from a Mr Paul Smith from Bristol and designed by Bristol based APG Architects.

In 2016 a Mr Paul Smith, who lived in the bungalow at number 22, told Falmouth Town Council's planning committee that the whole future of North Parade was at stake if plans to replace a bungalow at no 20 North Parade with a block of four maisonettes which would extend to four storeys in height was given the go-ahead. At the time he said: "What is at stake is the whole of the future of North Parade. There are lots of things wrong with this proposal. It is now taller than the previous (proposal) - that was too big and it's now even bigger. We have gone a step backwards."

APG Architects have been contacted for a comment.