CAMPAIGNERS fear their fight to protect a coast path along a Newquay headland could be lost before their case is determined.

Cornwall Council has notified the Glendorgal Coast Path campaign it has now formally validated its definitive map modification order application.

But the unitary authority has also confirmed that the application is number 87 on its priority list and may not be allocated to an investigating officer for around a year.

Campaigners are concerned the “character of the headland” and the “traditional lines of access” may change significantly before the council determines whether public rights already exist as work moving forward at pace to demolish part of the Glendorgal Hotel and construct 12 luxury holiday homes including apartments, townhouses, semi-detached properties and duplex houses.

The Glendorgal Coast Path campaign is now appealing to Cornwall Council to review the definitive map modification order application as a time-sensitive case.

Residents launched the campaign after landowner Seamus Redmond from Bluechip Hotels Limited installed a solid steel gate complete with signs warning it is private land.

Mr Redmond insisted there is no right of way along the path and threatened to prosecute anyone who tried to use it. He has offered locals a simple solution if they wish to keep using it: buy one of his new luxury holiday homes.

Campaigner Matt Kennedy-Smith said: “The historic routes around the headland are already physically blocked and redevelopment is progressing now.

“If substantive investigation does not begin for another year or two, the character of the headland and the traditional lines of access may have changed significantly before the council determines whether public rights already exist.

“What we are asking is whether this case should receive earlier consideration because it is genuinely time-sensitive.

“We fully accept that Cornwall Council must determine that question independently and on the evidence. We are not asking anybody to prejudge our application, and we are not asking for it to be moved ahead simply because our campaign is popular.

“It is about asking whether a case involving land which is actively changing should be investigated sooner than one where nothing on the ground is changing.

“Two years is a very long time when the landscape is changing today.

“Rather than simply accepting the situation we have contacted a wide range of organisations and representatives asking them to consider supporting a review of the priority given to our application. These include the Ramblers, Open Spaces Society, Right to Roam and Right to Roam Kernow, Natural England, the Duchy, Noah Law MP, Newquay Town Council, Newquay Conservation Area group, Newquay RNLI, HM Coastguard, and organisations connected with the South West Coast Path.”

The Glendorgal Coast Path campaign says the encouraging part is that Cornwall Council has started the preliminary consultation on the definitive map modification order application.

Mr Kenned-Smith said: “The claimed routes have been formally mapped and consultation has gone out to relevant organisations, user groups, local representatives and affected landowners, with responses invited by October 26.

“That means application is very much alive and moving through the statutory process.”