Huge barn complex in Cornwall a planning ‘apocalypse’ claim

Now, following repeated protests by locals, Cornwall Council has investigated the matter and is taking action.

Residents of Paul, near Penzance, and surrounding areas are outraged by the building development on the edge of the village.

A spokesperson for a group of residents, who have been calling on the council to take enforcement action, said: “The huge new building, allowed within ‘permitted development under Class Q’, is completely out of keeping with all others in the picturesque village in terms of both style and size. In addition, much of the work going on at the site, on former agricultural fields, is openly flouting the relevant government legislation, apparently with impunity.

“There is also a long-standing unfulfilled tree planting condition at the site, the purpose of which was to visually screen the original building and any subsequent conversion. No trees were ever planted.

“Overall, the unsightly development makes a mockery of central and local government encouragement of neighbourhood planning, under which residents are supposed to have meaningful input into development in their local areas.

“The on-going failure to fulfil the tree planting condition also flies very directly in the face of Cornwall Council’s flagship ‘Forest for Cornwall’ initiative.”

The planning battle has a long back story. Around 2003, at a time when the local planning authority was Penwith District Council rather than Cornwall Council, a local farming family built a large agricultural barn in fields on the northern approach to Paul. In 2004 a new application was made to substantially increase the size of the barn.

Initially refused, permission was eventually granted on appeal with the condition that, because of the very large size of the barn, it should be visually screened from the north by trees. The planting plan comprised a small copse of mixed broadleaved trees and was accepted by Cornwall Council in late October 2010.

The enlarged barn was duly built but following its completion no trees were planted at the site, nor have any been planted since. The residents’ spokesperson said: “Evidently nor was this condition enforced by Cornwall Council, by this time the relevant local planning authority.”

In December 2021, an application was made to Cornwall Council to convert the barn to dwellings within “permitted development under Class Q”. This legislation, introduced in 2014 mainly to increase the supply of rural housing, allows owners to convert redundant agricultural buildings into dwellings without following normal planning procedures.

The conversion of the large barn to dwellings is now in the final stages of completion by a new developer who is understood to have bought the site from the farming family.

A photograph showing the extent of the work at the barn conversion in Paul (Pic: supplied)

“All of this work clearly departs very radically, both in location and scale, from the 2021 application and also appears to be in direct breach of the Class Q regulations,” said the spokesperson.

“In addition, various very substantial suburban-style walls are being built, including close to the entrance to the site, adding incongruity to a building design that already jars badly with the local built vernacular. And still, after more than 14 years, no trees have been planted at the site, the area where the small copse should be having now been developed in other ways altogether.

“Overall, local residents are not only incensed by the development and what’s going on at the site, but also extremely concerned by the lack of Cornwall Council oversight and intervention. They are acutely aware that the longer unauthorised development goes on the less likely it is that any work done/infrastructure put in place by the developers will be rolled back.”

They added: “Although planning enforcement are now aware and have initiated a case file, they have clearly ‘come very late to the table’, then only in response to repeated protests from local residents.”

After hearing the locals’ concerns, the LDR service approached Cornwall Council. A spokesperson for the local authority’s planning department said: “The council can confirm that it is currently investigating alleged breaches of planning control at this particular site and that after inspecting the land and having met with the landowners it has concluded that a breach of planning control has occurred.

“It is the council’s understanding that a retrospective planning application will be submitted in due course seeking to address the works which have been undertaken.”