Cornwall Local Plan "Examination"

For the last two days, I have been in attendance at the Public Examination of the proposed Cornwall Local Plan, which has been taking place at the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay.

Individual topics covered today included the Council’s (not very popular) proposed housing target of 47,500 new properties between 2010 and 2030.

Surrounding the Council was a gaggle of developers, planning agents and legal representatives. These included the House Builders Federation, Persimmon Homes, Wain Homes, Eco-bos, Barton Wilmore, Boyer Planning, David Lock Associates, D2 Planning, Emery Planning, Smith Gore, Tetlow King, Origin 3, Savills and Stride Treglown … the list just goes on and on.

All the big companies and corporate representatives argued in favour of much higher housing numbers. The arguments included (i) the need for more housing to generate more “affordable” housing, (ii) the need for more housing because of “market signals” … don’t ask, (iii) the need for more housing for older people, (iv) the need for more housing to compensate for the loss of permanent homes to second homes …

Not feeling hopeful!