An application for a mixed tourism and industry development on land that had once been part of Lostwithiel golf course was submitted in January 2021 and refused on 20 April 2022 (PA 21/00038). In April 2023 a somewhat reduced scheme was submitted (PA 23/02502) and is yet to be decided. This current application is for a more substantial main building for holiday apartments and other amenities, in addition to the 19 drum-shaped holiday lodges as in the first application. Applications for temporary preparatory work on hedges, trees, access and car parking had gone through in the meantime and substantial amounts of hedge removal, tree cutting, access, and car parking works have already been done.
The application has attracted a great deal of comment, almost all of it negative. Points raised by many local people include the following: the site is a designated Area of Great Landscape Value; its hillside position above the town detracts from local views, notably to and from Restormel Castle; local lanes are small and already congested; the lights and sounds and traffic will be highly detrimental to the local community. One person sums up local feeling, writing that the development …’respects neither the landscape nor the community [and] is outside Lostwithiel’s development boundary.‘ Many mention that the proposal contravenes existing planning policy, does not address concerns about the environment, local wildlife or biodiversity, and will substantially damage the visual and historical amenity of the area. CPRE Cornwall will be submitting a comment based, as always, on a careful and very thorough examination of the technical breaches, distortions or omissions in the case. The full application can be seen on Cornwall Council’s Planning Portal.
Photo: Planning Committee – Cornwall Live