Mandalay Tregurrian Newquay Cornwall TR8
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Mandalay Tregurrian Newquay Cornwall TR8 4AD Mr Samuel Fuller Development Officer (Area Team 5) Planning & Sustainable Development Service Cornwall Council Pydar House Pydar Street Truro TR1 1XU 7 February 2021 Dear Mr Fuller RE: TREGURRIAN PLANNING APPLICATION REF NO: PA20/10888 We are writing to lodge our objection to the proposal to build a second dwelling, home office and creation of a new vehicular access and car park on the site known as Sea Lodge, Tregurrian Hill, Tregurrian, Newquay, TR8 4AD. In our opinion, there are a number of polices within the Newquay Neighbourhood Plan and Cornwall Local Plan which the proposal does not comply with. NEWQUAY NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN (NNP) In April 2019, we were some of the 93% of local residents who overwhelming voted in favour of supporting the referendum resolution “do you want Cornwall Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Newquay to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood”. We are thankful to Newquay council for the vast amount of work in bringing the 2019-2030 plan to fruition and for the work of Cornwall Council in October-November 2018 ensuring that the plan went through examination allowing it to have the same legal status as the Cornwall Local Plan G1 Policy: Settlement Boundaries An objective of the NNP is to direct sustainable development to the main urban centre of town and restrict inappropriate development of smaller settlements that lack suitable infrastructure. This is to be achieved through the defining of settlement boundaries. Policy G1a: Sea Lodge and the proposals for further buildings/car park on land adjacent to Sea Lodge fall outside the settlement boundary as defined in Map G1a. Policy G1b: Despite being outside the settlement boundary, the applicant claims that Dwelling 2 will be built on previously developed land being residential garden. Page 11 of the applicant’s Design & Access Statement clearly shows that the land proposed for Dwelling 2, new access and car park is more representative of scrubland and hedgerows than a landscaped, residential garden. Policy G1d: Sea Lodge is currently rented out as holiday accommodation through the family firm ‘Beach Retreats’. The history involved with this Planning Application and Planning Application PA14/07164, the notes from the meeting with Newquay Town Council on 18 November 2020 and the architectural designs would suggest that at least one or both dwellings will be rented out as holiday accommodation. We do not believe that this proposal will support Policy 5 of the Cornwall Local Plan due to the following: It is not well integrated within the village It is not well served by public transport and there are no footpaths to the property It is not of a scale appropriate to the countryside and a smaller rural settlement It is not an extension to an existing business where relocation would be impractical or not viable The proposal does not provide a well balanced mix of economic, social and environmental benefits The NNP has identified this land as inappropriate for development being outside the settlement boundary. G2 Policy: Development Principles Policy G2c: The proposed dwellings are two stories. Sea Lodge is currently a bungalow and therefore, despite the proposal to sink the dwellings, the tiered effect up and down Tregurrian Hill at existing roof heights will not be maintained. Policy G2d: Visitors travelling from the direction of Newquay airport to Tregurrian, Watergate Bay, Porth and Newquay are currently greeted by a sea view as they turn the corner to travel down Tregurrian Hill. Dwelling 2 will obscure this view. Policy G2f: An additional dwelling, home office, increased size of dwellings, wrap around balconies and separate car parking will all increase the amount of external lighting necessary. Incorporation of office space into the design of Dwelling 1 as proposed for Dwelling 2 would reduce the need for another building. We question the need for shower and toilet facilities in a building not proposed for residential use and note that in the applicant’s Design & Access Statement, it is referred to as a ‘Studio’. Policy G2g: We have not seen a plan submitted explaining how waste generated before and during the development, including rock, soil and rubble will be managed and ethically disposed of. The proposed development will involve a considerable amount of land excavation. Policy G2h: The additional dwelling, studio and car park for six vehicles will increase the amount of non- permeable hard landscaping necessary. We question why the site boundary in body of the applicant’s Flood Risk Assessment & Drainage Survey differs from other documentation within the application validating local residents’ concerns that the land where Dwelling 2 and parking for multiple vehicles is proposed does not actually belong to the applicant. D2 Policy: Scale and Location of Development Policy D2: The Newquay Character Study (P84-85) makes specific reference to Tregurrian and key design principles to adopt in the area are stated as ‘closer groupings of buildings similar to the original farm buildings’ and ‘use traditional building forms, and locally distinctive materials’. We would suggest that the proposal for these dwellings does not use traditional building forms. Page 10 of the application’s Design & Access statement is misleading in that three of the photographs are taken in Watergate Bay, not Tregurrian. The Newquay Character Study states that a key view to protect is the ‘distant sea view to the south from the centre of the hamlet’. The Landscape and Visual appraisal submitted with the application acknowledges that Dwelling 2 will impact this view. H2 Policy: Development in Sensitive Landscape Areas Policy H2a: We believe that this proposal will have a negative impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area identified as an area of great landscape value. The removal of the hedge for alternative access and a car park will remove the natural screening of the property from the road. P.26 of the applicant’s Design & Access Statement suggests that the proposed car parking will be within a garage. No form of car park cover features in the elevation drawings. Policy H2b: We believe that the proposal will adversely affect the amenity of future occupiers of the site and know that it will affect our enjoyment of the landscape as occupiers of a nearby property. The grounds of the site make an important contribution to the local landscape both in terms of vista and as habitation for local wildlife. Policy H2d: The proposed development does not offer appropriate access. The 30mph speed limit on Tregurrian Hill is rarely complied with. We note that WYG have been appointed by the applicant to advise on this matter and that they have supported the change in access. Our view is that WYG are not independent but that LHA, who are independent, have recorded their concerns over the proposal. The tone of WYG’s report is to dismiss their valid concerns. The speed data provided is for a quiet week in February and it would be interesting to see comparative data for a week in summer season when taxis speed backwards and forwards to the airport. The argument to use 85th percentile data appears flawed, it only takes one vehicle to cause a crash and surely top speeds recorded should be used in designing the visual splays to ensure that safety for all is not compromised on. LE1 Policy: Landscape Character Areas Policy LE1: We believe that this overdevelopment in an area of great landscape value is unnecessary and will have a significant, adverse impact on the character of the Tregurrian landscape which is vital for our wellbeing as a community. The un-kept, natural, rural and largely rugged character of the site will be lost and it will feel more urbanised. Policy LE4: The NNP states that the following view should be protected ‘up the coast from beaches, roads and coast path towards Watergate Bay and Tregurrian’. The Landscape and Visual appraisal submitted with the application acknowledges that Dwelling 2, the proposed office and relocated access will adversely affect views from the top of Tregurrian Hill looking West, East and South. HB1 Policy: Habitats & Biodiversity Policy HB1a2: Biodiversity changes over time and we note that the applicant’s Ecological Survey was only valid until May 2019. We note that no barn owl, dormouse or badger surveys have been carried out, as advised in the 2018 Cornwall Council’s Planning for Biodiversity guide, and we question this given all species reside in the hedgerow proposed for removal. Maintaining the existing access with parking next to the existing dwelling, as is the case now, would significantly reduce the damage to the area’s natural habitat and biodiversity. Policy HB1d: The proposal, in its current form, does not preserve hedgerow. We note that the Design & Access Statement only provides CGI footage of the existing entrance to be used as pedestrian access and not the new entrance and car park. CORNWALL LOCAL PLAN We are aware that the Newquay Neighbourhood Plan should be read in conjunction with the Cornwall Local Plan and in particular would like to highlight the following aspects of the Cornwall Local Plan. Policy 3 – Role and Function of Places 1.53 – The proposal will not provide any homes affordable or otherwise for locals. 1.64 – The proposed development is not of a scale and nature appropriate to the character, role and needs of the local community. 1.65 – The proposed development will physically extend the settlement of Tregurrian into the open countryside. 1.67 – Sea Lodge is currently an isolated dwelling beyond the edge of the settlement of Tregurrian. 1.68 – The proposal is outside the settlement boundary as defined in the Newquay Neighbourhood Plan.