‘DEVELOPMENT for development’s sake’ is how an East Cornwall resident described a plan for 25 homes in St Ann’s Chapel, which came before Calstock Parish Council for a decision last week.

A number of members of the public attended a meeting of the full council to voice their concerns over the proposal by Ferndale Developers (Cornwall) Ltd for the construction of 25 new residential units consisting of affordable dwellings and open market dwellings, the formation of new vehicular access with visibility splays, the laying out of an internal estate road and the provision of gardens and garages to serve the dwellings on land adjacent to Whiterocks Park.

During the public participation time, Peter Graddon, from Whiterocks Farm, said: ‘How is this development going to benefit the local area? I can’t see any benefit — it is above the building line and it won’t create any jobs. What’s the point? It will have a major impact on the environment and it has been pretty poorly advertised. I’m not against development but I am against development for development’s sake.’

Local resident Terry Latchford said: ‘There shouldn’t be any houses on that field. It is very upsetting. It is important for us to hang on to this sort of land. One day someone will look up at the valley and all they will see is houses — the valley will be gone.

‘I’m not against housing but it should be built in an area where it can be sustained. They’re going to be up on a hill where everyone can see them. People come up to this heritage site in their hundreds. It’s quiet, it’s dark at night — it’s one of the very few places left where you don’t get light pollution. Eventually the area will be covered in properties.’

Adam Tomlin, on behalf of the developers, said they had taken into account people’s views from the previous application: ‘The previous application was refused. Since then we have had a fresh architect and a fresh plan. We have discussed the scheme in depth with Cornwall Council and it now includes just over 50 percent affordable housing. We looked at the objections to the previous application and tried to incorporate as much as we could into the new plan to reduce the impact on the neighbours.’

Another lady, who owns land across from the development, raised concerns about the amount of traffic that would be generated on the road.

After considering the application, and the views from the public, Calstock Parish councillors voted to object to the plan.

The reasons given for objection included the issue of drainage on the site, which had already caused problems for the estate below it and more building on the site would only ‘exacerbate’ the problem, the issue of traffic and vehicle access onto the main road and in the site itself — the main road was a fast road and there would be a high risk of accidents if the main exit was onto this road and there would need to be some kind of traffic calming at the bottom to slow traffic down . It was outside the planning line although it was an exception site, the area was in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a World Heritage Site and St Ann’s Chapel already had more than 130 houses being built.

The council felt there was no need for these extra houses and there was no infrastructure to support the application — there were no shops in St Ann’s Chapel, it had a ‘very sparse’ bus service and the schools were at capacity along with the doctors’ surgery.

The application will now be put before Cornwall Council’s planning committee for a final decision.