A PETITION calling for Cornwall Council to reverse a planning decision made last week has surpassed 1,000 signatures.

Approval for a detached house on land near Rame Head was given by members of the East Planning Committee, against the recommendation of the planning officer and officers for the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), in a close vote of seven members for and six against.

Applicant Chris Wilton, who is a farmer and is also the chair of the Maker with Rame Parish Council, said he needed the new home for his young family and to be able to continue tending to the land and the business. He was backed by the NFU and by the parish council, whose vice-chair John Shepherd spoke in support of the scheme at the virtual meeting of the planning committee where the decision was taken.

Planning officer Davina Pritchard told councillors that while the council had a policy which allows homes to be built for agricultural workers she was of the opinion that the design and scale of the proposed four-bedroom property was not suitable for the site and would have an impact on the AONB.

Jim Wood from the AONB unit said that he was in ’complete agreement’ with what the planning officer said and said the plans should be refused.

He said the planned home would have ’little respect’ for the setting which he said was a key location.

’It would give rise to unacceptable harm on the AONB’, he told councillors.

Much of the discussion in the meeting was centred around the need for Mr Wilton to have a home close to the land he farms.

Mr Wood explained that he was not opposed to accommodation being provided for agricultural workers and said the objections were to the actual house which was proposed.

The Rame Head Defence Group was formed among around 100 local residents in opposition to the scheme. After planning approval was granted, the group said that ’farmers had rallied to support one of their own and swung the vote’.

Among the members of the committee who voted in favour was Cllr Adrian Parsons, who said that there should have been a site visit for the councillors to see the location of the proposed house.

He said: ’A lot of the emails that we have received and correspondence we have had gives the impression that this house will stand out like a sore thumb.

’Yes I am a farmer and do what I can to help the farming community but that doesn’t mean I blindly support every application from the farming community.

’With the right screening and right landscaping the impact would not be anything like what we have heard.’

Cllr Carol Mould said she would have liked to have seen ’a more modest design’ for the proposed house, and Cllr Andrew Long said he was torn on the application, because the council’s policies on helping agricultural workers secure accommodation and the policies designed to protect the AONB were at odds with each other. He said that he did not have any issue with the principle of development on the site but was also concerned about the size and design of the proposed home.

Committee chairman Chris Batters said: ’I think an agricultural worker is entitled to live in a good size home for  their family.

’But I consider this development to be too grand in size and scale for that location.

’I have every respect for what the gentleman is doing. I do feel that this development – a four-bedroom property, balconies, all the glass that is shown on the drawings here is not appropriate.’

Councillor Jane Pascoe said that she had visited the site and was in support of the plans.

She said: ’The ridge height is below the coastguard cottages, you will never see it from the sea, you won’t see it walking.

’I actually want to reassure people it won’t stick out like a sore thumb, I really genuinely don’t think it will.’

Cllr Derek Holley said that he knew the site ’very well’ and said that it was not just about the views of the sea from Rame Head but the ’whole experience’ of the AONB.

He said: ’This site is a sensitive site, it is an iconic site in many ways. This building doesn’t reflect the needs of the AONB.’

Cllr Holley said that the proposed house would ’sit very well on a really modern estate, but not here’.

Mr Wilton told the Cornish Times that he had discussed the options of a single-storey and a 1.5 storey building with the planning department prior to submitting his application but said he had been advised that these would be out of keeping with other farmhouses in the area.

In 2016, pre-planning advice from a planning officer for the same site stated that ’the principle of new built form in this sensitive location is not accepted’.

The approval given at last week’s meeting includes a condition that the house can only be used by an agricultural worker.

Three of the Councillors who took part in the meeting – Cllrs Mould, Batters and Holley - wished to have it recorded that they had voted against the approval.

A petition on the ipetitions.com website entitled ’Reverse planning permission in local AONB’ had reached 1050 signatures at the time of writing.