FUTURE residents of the new Tencreek housing development will officially be living in the parish of Menheniot and not in Liskeard, after Cornwall Council had the final word on a boundary change request.

Liskeard Town Council had asked that the current boundary line be changed so that the whole of the retail park near Morrisons, the Liskeard Tavern/Premier Inn, and the land to the south, set to be developed for employment and housing, be incorporated into the town.

The advantage to the town council would have been in the share of the council tax that the new residents would pay towards facilities and services.

But having considered the request, Cornwall Council’s Constitution and Governance Committee decided to keep Tencreek Farm as it stands, within the parish of Menheniot. The decision must now be ratified by the Local Government Boundary Commission, but Menheniot Parish Council says it doesn’t expect the Commission to disagree.

Menheniot Parish Council has welcomed the news. It said: “Despite the arguments put forward by Liskeard Town Council, Cornwall Councillors did not agree that there was any kind of “natural fit” between the proposed housing at Tencreek and Liskeard town, or that people there would “think they were in Liskeard”. The counter arguments put forward were that Tencreek Farm had long been inside the Menheniot boundary and that any benefits arising from housing development there should remain with the residents, and not go to Liskeard.”

Menheniot chairman, Jerry Tucker, said: “I’m delighted that the Governance Committee have agreed with us that the people best placed to decide which parish our new residents at Tencreek Farm should live in are those people themselves. We have consistently taken the view that when - and only when - Tencreek is developed, we will ask those new residents which parish they would prefer to live in, and whose parish precept they would prefer to pay.”

During a public consultation about the issue, 25 responses were received in favour of Menheniot’s position and two in support of Liskeard, he added.

Liskeard’s mayor Simon Cassidy said that the town council was disappointed with the outcome.

“The eventual residents of the Tencreek development will consider themselves as living in Liskeard and will use the services in our town, without any contribution to the town coming from their council tax precept,” said the mayor.

“That is unfair to the people of Liskeard who are already struggling with access to services.”

Money taken from council tax for a town or parish precept helps to pay for things such as the upkeep of parks, public toilets and CCTV.

There is also the issue of community benefit funding and infrastructure funding to be obtained from the developers of the Tencreek site. At the moment, the Section 106 proposal from Wain Homes suggests that contributions should be made to Liskeard School and Community College, and the two GP surgeries in Liskeard.

There will be some boundary changes on the outskirts of Liskeard, which the town council says it is pleased about: the Tavern and the Bubble retail park will now be part of the town, and not Menheniot. Meanwhile, on the boundary with Dobwalls and Trewidland Parish, one factory site at Moorswater will be brought in line with the rest of the industrial estate, which lies with Liskeard Parish.

A sewage treatment works at Moorswater, that services the town, will also now be part of Liskeard.