Planning Cornwall: New housing development would affect village’s mining heritage

Cornwall councilors have scrapped plans for an affordable housing-led development in a village near Penzance after hearing it would have a damaging effect on the area’s important mining heritage.

Mrs S Durbin applied in principle for permission to build between seven and nine houses on land north-east of Mendhu in St Hilary, close to the village school and within the World Heritage Site (WHS) of the Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts.

A meeting of Cornwall Council’s west planning committee heard on Monday July 22 that since the application was submitted the St Hilary Neighborhood Development Plan, which carries “considerable weight”, has been adopted and the application it has now been recommended for refusal as a result of its policies.

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The benefits of the need for affordable housing in the area were now considered to be outweighed by the conflict with the neighborhood plan. These include that it is a rural exception, far from other developments, and that approval would result in building over the remains of a former mining operation, which is one of the key attributes of World Heritage Site status.

Jane Howells, of St Hilary Parish Council, said her council strongly opposed the application because it was not close enough to the existing urban area and cited an appeal judge who said the area was not suitable for housing. She said a public meeting in the village was unanimous in its opposition.

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Cllr Howells said the council supported social housing “in the right places and at the right scale” but felt this application was not acceptable as a rural exception site. She added that the mining heritage is very important in the area and that the small holdings of the miners in St Hilary are disappearing. Introducing a modern housing development would permanently damage the historic mining character of the area, she added.

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Local member Cllr John Martin called the application before the committee because of his own concerns and support for the parish council. The application was unanimously rejected at the meeting at Kresen Kernow in Redruth.