A CORNISH Earl has caused outrage among his village neighbours with plans to build a modern new house next to the war memorial in Cawsand.

The Earl of Mount Edgcumbe wants planning permission for a four bedroomed home on New Road, on land forming part of his estate.

The property, designed to be sunk into the hill, would be mainly glass fronted with a car lift to take vehicles to a subterranean garage.

The architect’s plans state that the house would be visible neither from the road nor from the war memorial, and that its impact would be minimal.

But residents living nearby have listed cliff stability, the hairpin bend, and disposal of waste among the problems posed at the site.

High among the concerns of residents in Garrett Street is a proposal to route sewage pipes down two vertical drops and across their properties, a plan variously described as ‘impossible’, ‘crazy’ and ‘extraordinary’.

Local people are also angered by the description of the site by the architect as a ‘visually unattractive and unkempt piece of land’. They say the community allotments on the plot are a cherished asset, and used by villagers to grow fruit and veg and flowers.

Kingsand resident Malcolm Cross said: ‘If the current proposal were to succeed it would be potentially unsafe, it would undermine the integrity of the war memorial site, it would invade the privacy of residents immediately below, and it would also breach every principle contained in the Conservation Area designation.’

But Robert Edgcumbe’s planning agent Paul Wiseman described objections from residents as ‘Nimbyism’.

‘I’ve visited the site many times,’ he said.

‘It’s a good use of the site and it won’t be visually intrusive. It will be a lovely house for someone to live in.

‘People don’t like change – that’s what it boils down to. There are houses above and below the site – it’s a built up area.’