CONCERNS over the bigger picture of employment and retail at a mixed-use development on the edge of Liskeard have been raised by councillors.
Westcountry Land and Homes is seeking public views on plans for new homes at Tencreek Farm.
Both Liskeard Town Council and Menheniot Parish Council received presentations from agent LHC Design and were able to ask questions ahead of the public consultation being launched - although no formal comments have yet been made, as an application is yet to be submitted.
Menheniot clerk John Hesketh said that the Council felt it was disappointing that the three developers interested in the area were not working more closely together on a masterplan: indeed, the Cornwall Local Plan states that it wants to see a ‘comprehensive and co-ordinated approach’ to the development of the site.
Speaking on behalf of the Council, he said: “There will need to be a masterplan that provides an overarching scheme to deliver housing, employment and a mixture of social, leisure and retail floorspace. Menheniot councillors were pleased to see the initial outline scheme that LHC presented to them last December, but advised them that any proposals they made would need to take account of the wider scheme, which means talking to the others who are currently taking an interest in the area.”
Westcountry Land and Homes has options to purchase two parcels of land at Tencreek.
An interest is also being taken in adjacent land by Wilton Homes and by Quora Developments, a national retail and leisure space developer, and the company behind the recent commercial development at Carkeel.
Meanwhile, clerk to Liskeard Town Council, Steve Vinson, said: “We are liaising closely with Menheniot Parish Council around this, and both we and they want to see a master plan for the whole site which meets local needs, and ensures that the new neighbourhood is well-integrated into the existing social, economic and physical fabric of Liskeard.
“We also want to make sure that increased housing is matched by additional infrastructure where necessary: we and Cornwall Council are, for example, talking to the local GP surgeries about the potential to expand.”
A spokesperson for Westcountry Land and Homes’ planning agent LHC Design said that it had been “difficult to co-ordinate” with the other developers currently interested in Tencreek. Ideally, she said, all would get round the table together, but that wasn’t always possible.
She said that it was quite common for mixed-use schemes to have different developers involved who would be at different stages in the process of bringing ideas forward.
She added that the Westcountry Land and Homes site fronts onto the other development area, and access to and from future neighbouring schemes could be made at various points.
“We’ve tried to make sure that our masterplan is as flexible as possible, so that any routes can join in with ours.”
Meanwhile, a decision about a possible change to the boundary between Liskeard and Menheniot has been deferred until after the May elections.
In a recent consultation, Liskeard Town Council had requested that the boundary be redrawn, so that more of the land to be developed at Tencreek would fall within Liskeard. However, Menheniot Parish Council had requested that the boundary stay the same.
To view the Westcountry Land and Homes plans for the site and make comments, visit https://landattencreek.co.uk/