Cornwall

Objections to the Proposed Eco-Town for the St. Austell Area

Executive Secretary, Courtenay Smale, has written to the Department for Communities and Local Government to express concern at the Government's intention to build an eco-town near St Austell on old china clay workings. 

Courtenay Smale

Courtenay's comments are set out below:

CPRE Cornwall has studied the proposals for the development of an eco town near St. Austell, and submits the following comments to the Eco Town Team for their consideration:

1    We support the concept of eco town development but fear that, to date, the public has been ill-informed and that the proposed planning process leaves much to be desired.

2    The Government's criteria specifying that they be stand-alone settlements will not be met in the St. Austell development as the proposals are for six totally separate sites largely on land which will be extensions to existing village communities.

3    The land which Imerys, the present user, is prepared to release for the eco-town development comprises mainly disused china clay pits, refining, drying, storage, and port facilities associated with an industry which is continuing to decline in Cornwall.  Present-day production of all grades of china clay is approximately 1.5m tonnes (half of what it was in the 1970s).  This continued decline will inevitably result in more plant facilities becoming redundant. Faced with the choice of leaving the structures to decay or redevelop the sites for community use, the CPRE opts for the latter.

4    Imerys proposes to release in excess of 300 hectares of redundant land for a range of recreational uses. This is welcomed but must be integrated and delivered contemporaneous with other developments.

5    The land involved is not prime quality land, either agriculturally or otherwise, and, providing the housing number is totally offset against the housing number being imposed on Restormel Borough by the RSS Panel Report (15,700), and not additional to that total, the CPRE would be supportive in this case. For other reasons, however, CPRE Cornwall considers that the choice of the St. Austell for eco-town development is an inappropriate one.

6    CPRE Cornwall has major reservations regarding the transport issues which arise from this development. Being of a fragmented nature, it makes the possibility of a coherent transport system extremely difficult. Details are currently sparse, both in terms of what the developer proposes for both road and rail, particularly as the plans to upgrade the A391 were recently withdrawn or at best ‘put on hold'. Off highway routes are mooted for linking the developments to road and rail links but are currently short on detail. A failure to provide a comprehensive public transport system within the area will undoubtedly lead to increased car dependency.  Any improvement of rail facilities, especially at Burngullow, where it is proposed to construct a new railway station, will be essential to enable the largest community (2,000-2,500 new homes) to gain access to the main line.

7    Aside from the transport issues the area which concerns CPRE Cornwall most is that of establishing sustainable communities in the China Clay area. Unless vibrant industrial and sustainable employment opportunities are created, the whole scheme will be doomed to failure. It will not be acceptable to build the housing quota without the backing of already-pledged employment. The prospect of ever-increasing fuel costs will weigh heavily on Cornwall's immediate future, where average earnings are amongst the lowest in the Country.

8    The percentage of affordable houses should be no less that 50%.  In an area where land values are relatively low, there is no reason, in our view, why this 50% figure should not be attained. We would expect the 50% affordable to apply to each of the five designated housing sites.

9    Scant detail has been released regarding services to the development with the exception of allocating two sites for primary schools.  CPRE Cornwall will reserve comment until the issues of the provision of retail, health, and other welfare facilities are forthcoming. There will be a danger of overloading the present stretched public services in central Cornwall unless increased services are provided.

10  CPRE Cornwall can see no valid reason for permitting new homes in eco towns to be constructed to only ‘level three' in the sustainability rating compared to other new homes being required to attain ‘level six' by 2016. This appears to us to be an abrogation of responsibility by the Government to which we register our unqualified objection.