Council to build 40 new homes in Cornwall at Connor Downs, Hayle

Treveth, the council’s wholly owned development arm, has been given outline planning permission to build the homes at Connor Downs, near Hayle.

A near identical planning application was only refused by the council’s west sub-area planning committee in March, but Treveth said that it had addressed the concerns raised in that refusal and resubmitted the application. The company has lodged an appeal against the March decision but said that it would withdraw that if it was now granted permission.

Council planning officers had recommended that the application should be approved saying that Treveth had argued that the development would not be encroaching on open countryside and that they had pledged to carry out works to the highway which include widening the road.

The application was affordable housing-led, although no details were provided for how many of the 40 properties would be affordable, and planning officers said that the benefits of providing affordable housing outweighed any harm.

However, Gwinear-Gwithian Parish Council, local Cornwall councillor Lionel Pascoe and several local residents said they were still unhappy with the proposals which they felt were unsuitable for the site. Of the 39 public comments submitted to the council 37 were objections.

They said that Angarrack Lane would not be able to take any more additional traffic from the development, highlighting that it is often used as a short cut by people avoiding traffic on the nearby A30. It was also claimed that there had been multiple accidents along the single-track road.

Aerial view of the site off Angarrack Lane in Connor Downs where Treveth has been granted outline planning permission to build 40 homes

There were also concerns that Connor Downs has already been over developed. One objector, who said they had been a resident in the village for 52 years, told the committee: “I have witnessed the village transform into an urban village that is unrecognisable from its former self.”

Tim Mulholland, managing director of Treveth, said that the company had been set up to help with housing issues in Cornwall and provide more homes for local people. He said: “We only let or sell to local people who live, work or have family in the vicinity of our sales areas. Our sales have been massively oversubscribed every time. We prioritise local people so they can live in their own communities.”

Olly Monk, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for housing, urged the committee to approve the plans and said that Treveth had mitigated the concerns which had been raised with the original application.

He said that the development would “provide some of that much needed accommodation for the sons, daughters and grandchildren” of people living in Connor Downs. He said that unless the council supported such developments it would “condemn” future generations “to a life outside Cornwall”.

He asked: “Is that what we are saying? That they have to live outside Cornwall as there are no homes for them to buy or rent?”

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Cllr Monk said that Treveth would start from a standpoint that 100% of the homes would be affordable, but said that in order to make it viable then it was likely that there would have to be some open market properties to subsidise the affordable homes.

Committee member Mike Thomas said that he was concerned about what value would be added to the community with the new homes as there were concerns that it would harm the village. Loveday Jenkin said that she did not think that there was sufficient infrastructure in the village to support the development.

But planning officers reminded the committee that Cornwall is in a housing crisis and stressed that there are currently 127 people on the housing waiting list in Connor Downs. Mark Broomhead said: “It is extremely important that we deliver houses for local people.”

Councillor Andrew Mitchell said that by granting outline permission there was an opportunity for the council, parish council and other local people to work with Treveth to ensure that the final plans are “better” and make them more acceptable to local people.

A proposal to grant outline planning permission was approved with eight votes in favour and two against.