THE leader of Cornwall Council has said he is in ‘full support’ of a scheme to build 71 extra care housing apartments on land near to the Bodmin Beacon.

Cllr Leigh Frost, who is the Cornwall Council member for Bodmin St Petroc’s said he supports the scheme, which has been met by concern by residents on the adjacent housing estate of Foster Drive.

Residents objecting to the proposals have said they are concerned about the impact of drainage from the site onto their properties in addition to the visual impact and fears over an increase to traffic movements in the area.

There have been 10 objections from members of the public on the planning portal.

Bodmin Town Council have also objected to the proposals, stating in its consultation response: “Bodmin Town Council does not support this planning application. After taking into consideration the concerns of both councillors and the public regarding drainage, traffic, and parking, etc, we do not believe the location is suitable.

“We do recognise the huge need for a scheme of this type and would be very happy to consider again if the scheme could be brought to a more suitable location that is closer to the town.”

The council’s landscape officer recommended that mitigation measures should be secured by planning approval, adding: “The degree of landscape harm resulting from the development would generally be ‘slight’, but with some localised ‘moderate’ and possibly ‘substantial’ adverse landscape and visual effects impacting a limited number of nearby residential properties and other localised receptors.

“However, as stated, these three measures would need to be included in a Reserved Matters application and secured by condition. At this point in the planning process, this cannot be assured.

“If these mitigation measures were not implemented to the level of detail described, the potential landscape harm would inevitably increase, in particular, the adverse visual effects experienced by nearby residents and footpath users would, as assessed in the submitted Appraisal, potentially be moderate/substantial, indicating significant harm to their visual amenity.”

However, for Cllr Frost, the positives that a development, which, at present is planned to be 100 per cent affordable in its rental tenure, outweigh the negatives.

He said: “I fully support the extra care facility, Bodmin needs it, and there are many residents who will genuinely benefit. While my preference was for it to be built on the old Athelstan House site, that unfortunately wasn’t feasible, and the project is sited at a location where the space is available.

“We’re already significantly behind where we should be on extra care provision, and that puts additional strain on our health and social care partners. Developments like this are an essential part of the solution, helping to ease pressure on our hospitals and support people to live more independently.

“We can’t afford to let great be the enemy of good. This may not be a flawless plan, but I know that work has been ongoing to address concerns around parking etc. This scheme will do real and lasting good for our community.”