Residents of a quiet village near Newquay are concerned plans to extend the local pub to include a wedding venue and holiday units will ruin their lives. Both the local parish council and Cornwall Council’s representative for the area agree there could be noise and traffic issues and have opposed the proposals.
An application by the Plume of Feathers at Mitchell will be discussed at a council planning meeting next week (Monday, January 13) at the request of local councillor Adrian Harvey due to concerns around inadequate parking provision, whether the road is adequate for the volume of traffic, drainage and flood risk, neighbour impacts of noise and light pollution and the size and scale of the development in a residential area.
The proposal for the expansion and diversification of the Grade II listed Plume of Feathers pub includes a wedding venue building, seven self-contained holiday accommodation units and a self-contained unit to be used as manager’s accommodation. There would also be a further nine guest rooms which would not be self-contained and a restaurant with walled garden. There would be additional parking for 82 vehicles and landscaping for outdoor spaces to include an events area next to the wedding venue.
The application has received around 30 public comments of objection from residents on the council’s planning portal, who all raise concerns about noise and highways issues. Three people have written in support of the plans.
One of those opposed states: “This large additional venue/rooms at the local inn will only increase the amount of traffic in an already overloaded main street. This, along with increased noise due to entertainment/weddings on a regular basis throughout the year, will be severely detrimental to local residents. Whilst I’m all for progress, I’m unsure this would have many, if any, benefits for the village.”
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However, the pub’s owner Crowndell Consulting Ltd – which wants to diversify its business – says the village would feel the economic benefits. In a planning statement, the applicant says: “The pub is a significant employer in the village, with 40 local staff of which 60 per cent live in the village itself (while) the rest of the employees are located within five to ten miles. The proposed redevelopment will increase the number of employees by an additional 50, providing new employment opportunities for both existing and new staff members.”
Despite the extra facilities being built on a neighbouring field which is recorded as Grade 3 and the “best and most versatile agricultural land”, Cornwall Council’s planning department believes the benefits in terms of business growth and employment outweigh any negatives and the proposal should be approved next week.
“There would be additional noise and traffic movements but not to an extent that would have a harmful effect on neighbours or access through the village,” adds the report to the central area planning committee.
St Newlyn East Parish Council has objected to the proposed development on a number of grounds including concerns about the volume of traffic the added facilities would create, a sewage treatment plant being at capacity and “unable to cope”, and light and noise pollution leading to families in the village being “adversely affected by the events taking place”.
“The size and scale of the proposed development is wholly inappropriate in a residential area,” added the council.
An environmental health noise and odour consultation found that despite reassurances that the proposals meet the Cornwall Council sound standard, “we are still concerned that this development will have a significant detrimental noise impact on the living conditions of occupiers of nearby residential properties.
“A total of 35 proposed weddings and community events is a significant change of the use of the area, particularly if the outdoor areas are used for the majority, if not all, of the events. The change will mean that larger numbers of people will gather together and create more noise. Most of these events are likely to occur at times when the weather is fairer and it is expected that nearby residents will want to use their outdoor space and will have windows open so the creation of more noise close to existing residential properties is likely to lead to disturbance.”
A decision will be made at the planning meeting at Lys Kernow / County Hall in Truro next week.
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