A PLANNING committee has given the go ahead to a development in the Tamar Valley in the face of strong opposition from local people.

The reserved matters application for seven affordable homes on land west of The Meadows in St Dominick was approved by members of the East Planning Committee.

One local person who spoke at the meeting in opposition to the scheme said that he felt concerns had been “dismissed or explained away” and that the experience had left him feeling angry and frustrated with the planning process.

Outline permission for 14 homes, including the seven affordable dwellings and seven self-build plots, was granted to Messers Speed and Wood in 2019.

The detail of access for the whole site, and appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the affordable housing and public areas only was approved at the meeting of March 2: a separate reserved matters application will have to be submitted for each of the self-build schemes as they arise.

The Parish Council had objected to the application for reasons including the following: the open market housing looked to be taking more than its share of the whole site, which did not accord with the Cornwall Local Plan; while the case officer deemed the development to be “minor” (less than 10 homes), the Parish Council felt that as it would increase the number of houses in the village by eight per cent, it could be described as “major” in St Dominick; the land to be developed was at least Grade 3 Agricultural land and not a brownfield site like the adjacent Meadows development, and up until recent years had been used for horticulture; the look of the new housing would be “urban” and out of keeping with the village; the AONB team had stated that the development would not conserve or enhance the area of outstanding natural beauty, and the Parish Council was concerned that permission could set a precedent for new housing within the AONB.

Concern over safe access to and from the site was also a big issue for the Parish Council and local people.

As well as the busy road through the village, which takes visitors to and from the Cotehele Estate, there was also the question of who owned an unsurfaced track behind the proposed development which had been described as a ‘footpath link’ within the plans, but which was known to be used by vehicles. But the Highways Officer for Cornwall Council considering the plans said that all issues of access for both pedestrians and vehicles had been addressed, and that subject to specific conditions being attached to the approval, no objection would be made.