It has been a
long day at Cornwall Council and one dominated by planning matters.
Along with over
twenty members of Mebyon Kernow, I was pleased to be present at the launch of
the “Our Cornwall” pressure group at New County Hall.
The group is opposing
the construction of 48,000 housing units over the next 20 years, which it
states will lead to “massive estates on green field sites, soulless
car-dependent suburbs, more traffic congestion, more pollution, declining town
centres, irreversible environmental damage and significant loss of increasingly
valuable agricultural land.”
A spokesman for
the group delivered a letter from 43 Cornish organizations, including Mebyon Kernow,
to the Chairman of Cornwall Council.
Meanwhile, in
the meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, councillors threw out plans
for 300 new houses in St Austell. The development had been opposed by over
1,600 people and St Austell Town Council was represented by MK councillor Derek
Collins while Cllr Neil Plummer strongly spoke out against the development.
As for myself, I
have been preparing for tomorrow’s meeting of the Planning Policy Panel, which I
will be chairing. We will be debating the Cornwall Council’s housing target for
2010-2030 and I will be arguing for a lower figure. The recommendation of the
Panel will then go the Cabinet and then the whole of the Council.
1 comment:
Sincere thanks to you all, and good luck in the reducing the numbers game. Cornwall already has 4.6 Years of building land available. So whatever reduction is achieved, will boost that figure (48/49k) towards or even over the 5yr requirement. Which in turn will stop developers using the shortage in Cornwall to support applications anywhere throughout the Duchy.
Stephen Henry Chairman St Austell SOULS
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