A drop-in meeting was held in Liskeard’s Public Hall on Monday to give members of the public an opportunity to find out more about the proposed new Cornwall Council Service Hub and to ask any questions about the project.

The three-storey Service Hub, set to be located in the Cattle Market car park, would house the local authority’s Registrars, Adult Education, Adult Day Services, Family Hub, Safe and Well, and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), replacing some existing Cornwall Council-owned properties in Liskeard.

Following a planning application being submitted, just 15 members of the public have left comments about the Service Hub plans on Cornwall’s online planning register, and 14 of these were objections. 

There has been criticism from local people that the public consultation over the Hub building has not been widely publicised.

Concern from local people over the project so far is focused mostly on the potential loss of more than 60 car parking spaces, and the impact of this on people and businesses.

The council, in its transport statement, says that the Cattle Market car park has the capacity to absorb this loss. Cornwall Councillor Jane Pascoe, who chairs the Liskeard Redevelopment Committee, said she believed that “there would not be a reduction in car parking spaces” at the site overall.

The local authority says that staff working at the new building will follow the arrangements already in place for Cornwall Council employees and park in the town centre car parks, including at Westbourne. But Cornwall’s highways officer says they want to see data demonstrating that the adjacent car park can cope with the displaced parking – and says that this analysis is missing from the plans submitted.

The Liskeard Chiropractic Clinic is among those most concerned about this aspect of the scheme: it says that the planning application submitted will affect land that is within its ownership, currently used for parking, and that this has been done without any prior consultation. Access to the clinic’s parking spaces will be limited because of the development, say the owners.

A local resident commenting to Cornwall Council said: “This car park is vitally important for access to Rosedean Surgery, Liskeard Chiropractors, Windsor Dentist and chemists. You are already charging 90p per hour for people to access these medical establishments, now you want the poorly or elderly to walk a distance or park illegally on the main road.”

Further comments from local people left on the planning portal include the suggestion that making use of existing empty properties in the town centre would be preferable to building a new one.

One resident said: “I object to this building on the basis that there is an increasing number of empty commercial properties in the town of Liskeard that could be used for the suggested services.

“It may be less costly to repurpose existing properties than build from scratch. There are many available alternatives that could and should be considered, that will not result in a loss of parking spaces.”

There’s a further worry from some about the height of the new building and possible loss of light to properties backing onto the car park.

One of the council’s lead architects on the project, Cian Spowart, has assured that they are looking to maintain parking across the site as all of the different projects (Rosedean Surgery, Work Shed and Integrated Services Hub) come forward. 

He explained: “We believe we can maintain overall numbers by re-purposing the part of the former Cattle pens to the South West corner.”

Jane Pascoe, Cornwall Councillor for Liskeard South and Dobwalls said: “I think we’ve managed to retain all of the car parking spaces or most of them so there wont be a reduction in car parking spaces. I have spoken to the officers to say that they can’t all be taken up as staff parking, we do have other car parks that will accommodate them, the same as a lot of the work force in Liskeard they park in the Rapsons car park or Lower Sungirt.

“We have a hinterland population of between 35,000 and 40,000 people in our outlying villages and a lot of them have a reduced bus service. Where public transport doesn’t reach those parts it means a lot of people have to bring their cars into town to do their shopping and business and access the services, so we really do need to accommodate those people, we don’t want them going else where.  That’s really, really important: Nick Craker and myself have been adamant the whole time about the car parking remaining in the Cattle Market site.” 

It has been said that the Service Hub project will support around 33 jobs and will bring in around £1.2-million a year to the local economy and by combining these public sector services under a single, brand-new, flexible centre it will allow Cornwall Council to cut its carbon footprint and operating expenses. 

The Integrated Hub will provide accommodation for a range of services with the intention that the building will be flexible to adapt to changing demand.

The current projected completion date for the Service Hub is 2024.

If you would like to provide feedback about the plans for the new Liskeard Service Hub building, visit the Lets Talk Cornwall website letstalk.cornwall.gov.uk/liskeard-service-hub