Planning Cornwall: Safety fears over affordable homes for ‘locals with suitable jobs’

A plan to build affordable homes for “locals with suitable jobs” in just one village in mid-Cornwall has sparked controversy in the area in the four years since it was first mooted. A meeting of Cornwall Council’s central area planning committee heard today (Monday, July 29) that there are very real concerns in the area about road safety if the houses were to be built.

Cornwall Community Land Trust has applied to the council to build 23 social rented homes (at around 50 per cent market rate) alongside four self-build homes for sale on the open market on land south-west of Hendra Prazey in St Dennis , near St Austell.

The mix of one, two and three-bedroom homes would be built on three fields on the edge of the village, next to the SUEZ recycling and recovery centre. During the meeting it was heard that there are currently 134 households in the housing register; of which 127 have a local connection with St Dennis.

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Planning officer Alex Lawrey said: “One of the main issues with this application was pedestrian and vehicular access. We are recommending this for approval but subject to work to improve pedestrian safety and limit speed to 20mph from the current 30mph and other work to slow it down. low traffic”.

One of the approaches to the site passes through a railway arch, which is single-lane and a “potential hazard” to pedestrians and vehicles. The complainant carried out a road safety audit which resulted in no evidence of any accidents and showed vehicle speeds of approximately 21mph plus there being an alternative approach to the residential area.

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The planning department felt that the benefits of development during a housing crisis outweighed the damage to the landscape and access issues could be resolved.

Chairwoman of St Dennis Parish Council, Julia Clarke, told the meeting that her council strongly opposed the plan. “We would normally welcome a development of this type in the village and have been in proactive discussions with Cornwall Council about affordable housing, but we feel the location of this application is inappropriate. In fact, we struggle to see how applicants could. I chose the worst site.”

She expressed concerns about road access, which has no sidewalks and could prove dangerous. The council believed that even with traffic calming, it would still be dangerous. Cllr Clarke added that the area was very marshy and building on it could cause flooding problems.

A spokesman for the community land trust replied: “We recognize there are local concerns about the suitability of the site. We listened to them and introduced design mitigation measures – including drainage, junction design and net biodiversity gain – to council’s satisfaction. planning officer, consultants and Natural England.”

The meeting heard the homes will be “affordable homes for local people forever”, for residents who can prove they have a connection to St Dennis. Cllr Michael Bunney wanted to be checked: “It’s brilliant to have 23 social rented homes, but will they go to local people in St Dennis?” Yes, they would, he was told, and closely controlled by the community land trust.

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Local member Cllr Dick Cole said there had been errors with recent affordable housing projects in St Dennis that should have gone to local people and didn’t. “There’s been an almighty hoax,” he added, “so I’m glad you’ve confirmed they’re going to St Dennis households.”

He said: “I am quite frustrated with this request. She provides a good example of how not to necessarily present an affordable housing proposal. I accept that the land trust initially worked with the parish council to seek land for an exception. place, but they then managed to choose a place which the parish council could not support.

“Twenty-three affordable units would normally be warmly welcomed, but here there was a significant real concern about the site.”

Cllr Bunney, who proposed a vote of approval, added: “I’m the youngest person on this committee and I’m almost 50. The younger generations are absolutely desperate for somewhere to live. I recognize the issues with the site – no” It doesn’t sound like a perfect site, but we have to take the comments that have been made about the local rental plan in good faith, so we have 23 homes that cater, in my words, to the appropriate workplace for local people in St Dennis. That is very important in the housing emergency we have in Cornwall.” He also welcomed the promise of traffic calming.

The application was approved with six in favor, none against and one abstention.

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