Planning Cornwall: Beachfront holiday homes popular among latest proposals

Plans for holiday homes overlooking a Cornwall beach, hundreds of new homes in Launceston and plans to transform Camborne town center are among the latest applications submitted to Cornwall Council.

Each week over 100 applications are validated by Cornwall Council and we have selected some of the most interesting proposals. All planning applications submitted to the council must be validated and are available for public inspection. Anyone is also allowed to submit comments on the applications – either in support or objection.

Most applications are decided by council planning officers under delegated powers. However, some applications will be referred to elected councilors who sit on planning committees. No dates have been set for the determination of the planning applications below. These can be viewed by accessing the planning portal on Cornwall Council’s website.

Read more: New homes ‘will destroy our wellbeing and breach our human rights’

Read more: Beaches where dogs will be banned this week

Holiday homes plan on ‘significant’ headland at Newquay

Plans have been unveiled to demolish most of a once-popular hotel and build holiday homes on what has been described as the “significant” Glendorgal headland in Newquay. Blue Chip Hotels Limited is seeking approval to demolish most of the 19th-century Glendorgal Hotel, which closed due to the Covid pandemic, and build 12 holiday properties.

The applicant also wants to demolish the neighboring Glendorgal Villa and replace it with a market house on the headland at the entrance to Porth Beach at Lusty Glaze Road. The company also wants to alter the remaining parts of the hotel to create two self-contained holiday apartments, with parking, general landscaping and the re-commissioning of a ‘mound’ – a prehistoric burial mound.

A planning report states that the hotel is currently out of business following both the lockdowns caused by Covid and the failure of a previous developer to complete the contract for a similar scheme following permission granted in May 2020. The new plan is essentially same as previous permission. , but with more demolition of the original hotel and increased new construction.

“The priority is to deliver a viable scheme that can deliver primary landscape restoration and conversation from the ‘mound’, headland and coast, with new, sensitive apartments and holiday homes. offering greater versatility of use, whether for larger ‘extended’ families or sharing with friends/couples,” the app adds.

For more details see planning application PA24/02415.

A new civic facility for Camborne

Planning Authority Cornwall has received an application as part of Camborne’s Town Deal proposals to restore, repair and reuse the existing Basset Center and the neighboring White House on Basset Road in the town, both of which are Grade II listed.

The buildings would house a variety of community activities, including the town library. A new flexible engagement space is proposed behind the White House, and a new central atrium would connect the buildings, incorporating a café, foyer and heritage exhibition experience.

An earlier scheme has been amended, which originally included a large two-storey performance space and an entrance atrium, which has now been removed from the plans. The project is supported with funding from the Department for Levelling, Housing and Communities Town Deal Fund with matching funding from Cornwall Council.

A report states: “The proposals will provide a valuable new civic amenity in Camborne, serving the local community and helping to support the economy in the town centre.”

For more details see planning application PA24/03584.

Bid to build 250 new homes within a mile of downtown

Cornwall Council has received a master planning application from Wessex Strategic to build up to 250 new homes – 75 of which are classed as affordable – on land just over a mile from Launceston city centre.

The homes – alongside a new road system, public open space and landscaping – would be built on 13.84 hectares of land at Stourscombe Farm, on the outskirts of the Cornish town. The site consists of eight separate fields and is currently used for crop production.

Wessex Strategic made a previous inquiry before Cornwall Council’s application in June 2023, which a planning officer found inconsistent with the adopted development plan for Launceston in terms of land earmarked for housing.

The application states: “However, the response also confirmed that there is currently a significant shortfall in the provision of affordable housing in Launceston and that the motorway benefits that the scheme is able to deliver have been sustained at local level. As such, it would be for the applicant to demonstrate that the benefits of the proposals are significant so as to justify withdrawing the current policy position.”

For more details see planning application PA24/02804.

Change of use of the mansion for weddings

A change of use application has been made for Polstrong Manor, near Camborne, to be used for civil wedding ceremonies. A previous application for between 10 and 12 weddings a year was rejected on the grounds of “noise and disturbance” and “motorway safety concerns”.

The applicant has “significantly reduced” the new proposals which would now be between six and eight weddings a year. There would be a maximum of 80 guests at a time and the wedding must end at 11pm.

For more details see planning application PA24/02537.

Apartment plan for the upper floors of a once popular restaurant

An application has been received to convert the top two floors of a three-storey building in New Bridge Street, Truro, into a pair of flats while retaining the existing ground floor as a restaurant. The building was previously occupied by the popular pan-Asian restaurant, Chantek, and the Colors cafe and wellness centre.

For more details see planning application PA24/03344.

Expansion of the industrial zone

Pre-application advice is sought for the redevelopment and refurbishment of an existing industrial site at Killiwherries Barton, Chacewater, together with further extension to form a mixed use commercial development incorporating light industrial/business units.

For more details see planning application PA24/00524/PREAPP.

Housing development near Truro

Rhosnoweth Developments Ltd has applied to build five houses, with new vehicular access to the road, on land at Old Abatoir in Calenick, near Truro.

The application states: “It has become apparent that the proposed development may disrupt the root protection zones of several trees and by realigning the access road and altering the design of the house, we aim to mitigate any potential adverse effects on tree health caused by the construction. Activities.”

For more details see planning application PA24/03136.

Affordable homes near Bude

Cornwall Council’s planning department has received a bid to build up to nine affordable homes on land at Park Farm, Marhamchurch, near Bude. The application site is currently an enclosed parcel of agricultural land adjacent to farm buildings.

For more details see planning application PA24/02719.