Cornwall councillors will decide next week if plans for a housing development in the heart of an area of outstanding natural beauty will impact the area as some objectors believe.

Steve Wise is seeking planning approval to build 14 new homes on land in St Dominick in the Tamar Valley. The application is submitted in a hybrid format, with five open market and five affordable homes proposed under the full part of the application and four open market properties proposed under the outline part of the application. The affordable housing would be a mix of shared ownership and affordable rent.

The application has been brought before the council’s east area planning committee on Monday, October 28, at the request of local member Andrew Long, who supports an objection by St Dominic Parish Council that the scheme does not accord with the Cornwall Local Plan as it is not affordable housing led.

A number of residents have raised objections on the council’s planning portal, with concerns about loss of land in an area of outstanding beauty (AONB), or National Landscape as it’s now known, as well as overlooking of neighbouring bungalows and safety on the neighbouring road which is on the route to National Trust property Cotehele.

Planning officer George Shirley recommends delegated authority to approve subject to conditions, including a contribution to the NHS of £3,015 towards Tamar Valley Health / Callington Health Centre and associated branches.

Conditions also include a contribution of £496 per affordable unit and £1,799 per open market dwelling to the improvement of St Dominick Playing Field and Lovell’s Park play area and/or the creation of open space within St Dominick parish.

Outline planning permission was previously granted for 14 dwellings on the site in 2019, which has since lapsed. The proposal provides a policy compliant level of affordable housing (35 per cent). It is acknowledged, however, this is less than the 50 per cent affordable housing proposed and approved previously.

Cornwall Council’s planning department notes that with the introduction of a collection of one- and two-storey dwellings, the scheme would result in urbanisation of a section of the Tamar Valley National Landscape, changing the character of the site. The area’s National Landscape team has objected to the scheme as a result.

St Dominic Parish Council has objected to the application on a number of grounds, including impact on the area of outstanding natural beauty / National Landscape and argues that the development would neither be “infill or rounding off, nor is it an urban area, so it is not appropriate for development”.

At a meeting in March, councillors refused to discuss the application “as there remain so many inconsistencies that it is impossible to make further informed comment”.