PLANS for residential development on a site in St Ann's Chapel need a lot of work to get to an acceptable stage, including lowering the density of housing, Calstock Parish Council has been told.

Cornwall Council affordable housing officer Victoria Regan was speaking to parish councillors following a public meeting recently where developer Andrew Selleck outlined his proposals for Nicholas Field behind Chapel Close.

The plans are currently at the pre-application stage where planning officers look at the scheme and see if it has potential.

Miss Regan said the developer was proposing 36 affordable homes, made up of 25 rented and 11 for sale and 24 open market houses, on a 1.1-hectare site.

She said:?'My feeling is that the density of housing is too high. The density of Chapel Close is about 30 dwellings per hectare and here we are looking at almost double that.

'Whilst we want to get the most efficient use of land, this site is on the edge of a village, in a rural setting and any development would have to sit comfortably in its surroundings.'

She said this was not the most favoured site for development as there were a lot of concerns about vehicular access through Chapel Close and the safety of children playing in the close, but it did have some merit.

To alleviate concerns it was proposed to put the access to the south of the site and provide a footway to Delaware Primary School.

Five sites in Calstock parish were identified for affordable housing, following a call for development land. Calstock is one of the parishes in East Cornwall with the highest number of people on the housing register — it currently stands at 197.

Miss Regan explained that in the past land outside development boundaries, like Nicholas Field, could only be built on if they had 100% affordable housing, but with Government funding being cut for social housing a different approach needed to be taken.

Cllr John Roberts said it was vital that St Ann's Chapel did not end up with 'a ghetto' in Cornwall Council's rush to meet targets for affordable housing.

'In a fairly short period of time it is just going to be horrible if all these houses go in and we are quickly going to regret it,' he said.

'To get this right we need to think outside the box not just in terms of density and design but in the long term legacy we are leaving behind us.

'I am glad that you (Miss Regan) agree that 60 homes is too many on this site.'

The housing officer assured the council that the scheme would have to have an identity, be nice to live in and to look at, have a good mix of development and be fully integrated in the village.