Councils' row over Redruth homes go-ahead

A parish council has threatened to take Cornwall Council to court after it said planning permission was wrongly given for 25 houses on the edge of a village.

Lanner Parish Council said there was no demand for the number of the homes which had been given the go ahead near Redruth earlier this year.

It said according to Cornwall Council's own policy, 12 homes should be the maximum built in such circumstances.

However, Cornwall Council said no such rules existed.

The parish council has now urged Cornwall Council to change its decision and said it would seek a judicial review if it did not.

Parish councillors said information in Cornwall Council's Home Choice register would back their case. However, Cornwall Council has refused access to information under the Data Protection Act.

'Reinvented the policy'

Parish council chairman Ashley Woods said: "Cornwall Council's own policy specifies, on a local needs exception site, 12 homes should be the maximum.

"Yet the council's planning committee deliberately put their own policy to one side, reinvented the policy and said 'no, we are going to have 25 here'."

Mr Woods said he accepted legal action could be expensive but people in Lanner would rather see "smaller developments not housing estates".

"This isn't about money - this is about a point of principle to the people of Lanner," he said.

However, Mark Kaczmarek, Cornwall Council cabinet member for housing and planning, said the parish council had been given all the information it could legally be given.

"The parish councils have got to trust Cornwall Council and our Home Choice register," Mr Maczmarek said.

Local resident Shirley Barns said a judicial review "would be a lot of money", but it was a risk worth taking "as the truth needs to come out".