plans for a development of 30 new homes on the site of a former poultry farm at St Cleer were narrowly approved on Monday.

Cornwall Council's planning committee east chairman, Andrew Long from Callington, used his casting vote to support the proposals by the Trustees of the Dean Family Discretionary Settlement for the erection of 30 affordable homes on the site of the former Deans Foods poultry farm off Well Lane in St Cleer after councillors' votes had been split 7-7 over the proposal.

Planning officials had recommended approval of the application but had attracted considerable opposition from residents and the parish council on the basis that it was overdevelopment of the site with poor access on to surrounding roads.

It was also suggested that the local school did not have the capacity to cope with the additional population, and that pressure would be put on existing local services.

Ward member Derris Watson had asked for the application to go before the full committee because she felt the site was within the rural gap designated to stop the coalescence of small settlements, and that the development would be detrimental to the character of the area. She had also pointed out that the site contains part of the World Heritage Site for Cornish Mining and there is a need to protect its Outstanding Universal Value.

However, a report from planning officers to the committee stated that while the site is on the outside edge of the village on greenfield land, the National Planning Policy Framework accepts the development of greenfield sites on the edge of suitable settlements where the housing is a response to local housing need, and that 30 additional affordable local homes would help relieve existing housing need within the parish.

Their future occupation would be secured through a legal agreement to ensure that priority is given to people with a local connection to the parish.