4th October 2023
Green light for Widegates houses?
MORVAL councillors will hear tonight that Cornwall Planners want to over-rule parish objections for an additional five houses at Little Chimneys – an area of land off the ‘cut-through’ linking the B3253 (road to Looe) and the A387 through Widegates village.
The parish council had opposed the application from Mr D Barton and Mr R Pawson (Llewella Ltd) in July because it contravened policies in the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) but the council will be told at their meeting at the Village Hall, Widegates, tonight (7.00 pm) that County Development Officer Shauna Vandermeulen says planning officers are “minded to recommend the application for approval.”
Her reasons will be explained to councillors who will then have only a matter of days to decide their next course of action.
According to Ms Vandermeulen they can either agree with her recommendation for approval; ‘Agree to disagree’, or request that the application is determined by (elected members on) the Planning Committee (i.e not just the salaried officers).
Morval’s NDP was adopted by Cornwall County Council at the end of last year following a referendum of parishioners who voted in favour of the policy document.
It is now used when considering all planning applications in the parish but already two applications, which the Parish Council considered fully in the light of the NDP policies, have been determined by Cornwall Planners, apparently ignoring the views in that plan. This could be a third instance.
Earlier this year outgoing parish council chairman John Collings said: “What is the point in spending thousands of pounds on an NDP which is supposed to reflect what local people want, when the county does not listen?
He added: “Our NDP was drawn up by a dedicated local committee, working on feedback from residents.
“It was then prepared by professionals and worded correctly to become a workable document for planning purposes.
“NDPs can cost in the region of £8,000 of Government money (ultimately our money from taxes etc), and are supposed to give parishes more clout in local decisions.”