Sunday Independent 13th July 2003

NO TO COSTA DEL CARLYON By Tim Sadler

A DEVELOPMENT dubbed 'Costa del Carlyon' could destroy a stretch of Cornish beach, angry residents have claimed.

Fearing that they could see Crinnis Beach turned into a gigantic resort complex with more than 500 apartments, they handed a 905-strong petition to officials at the Government Office South West in Sutton Road, Plymouth in a bid to stop the development in its tracks.

Mark Fraser, of the Crinnis Beach Development Focus Group, said that the project would be a 'disaster'

He said: 'Environmentally it's an outrage building across the beach.'

Planning permission for the resort was granted in 1988 when the opening of the Plymouth Pavilions caused a drop in the popularity of the Cornwall Coliseum entertainment complex on the beach.

Developers now want permission to demolish the Coliseum, and with it a nightclub unpopular with residents, and replace it with a state-of-the-art leisure centre.

The protesters, however, hope that the plans will be 'called in' by the Minister for Housing and Planning Keith Hill.

Cornwall and Restormel Borough Tory Councillor Richard Stewart (Biscovey), representing the Crinnis ward, is backing the protesters.

"It's too large for the scale of the beach. There are 500 houses there now and this is going to double the number," he said.

The Ampersand Group Ltd is carrying out an environmental study to look at the impact its project would have on the beach, but Mr Stewart said that a full environmental impact assessment would have to carried out to look at the effect the development would have on the surrounding area, particularly the roads which could not cope with the flood of traffic.

As well as the apartments, the complex would also include a 39 - bedroom hotel, ten retail units, leisure pools and restaurants.

'People are going to think it's like the Costa Brava,' said Mr Fraser. It'll be the Costa del Carlyon.

Residents agree that some sort of development is needed but feel that there are more attractive ways of developing the space.

Peter Browning, of the focus group which is made up of members of four different residents associations, said, "I would prefer to have it as a sort of Eden Mark II.

It would be a bridge between the natural background of the Eden Project and a more urban scene.'

Michelle Peart, of the planning department of the Government Office South West, said that they were waiting for the formal application to be referred to them.

'There's a statutory period of 21 days and we will decide whether it needs to be called in for public inquiry or if it goes back to Restormel,' he said.

But some residents are l for the project.

Said Jan Powell: "I was very anti it at the beginning, but whatever we've chucked at Ampersand, they've come back with answers or they've said. "We'll see what we can do about it". It is a large development, but when they have those discos down at the Coliseum we get an awful lot of vandalism.'

She added that the firm was also working on bringing the beach back up to Blue Flag status.

She also believes that the proposals will provide a lot of jobs in the area. 'A lot of people in this area are reasonably privileged, and I don't think the privileged people see the side where people haven't got jobs." she said.

Alan Prisk, a planning consultant acting for Ampersand, added: I'm disappointed by some people's reaction

"We've sought at each stage to work with them and to incorporate their suggestions as and when we can."

He said that the company's current planning permission would see the creation of the 511 apartments, but leave the Coliseum building intact, whereas Ampersand hopes to demolish it and replace it with a state-of-the-art leisure centre.

A spokeswoman for Ampersand added that many residents signed the petition because they feared they would not get access to the beach if the complex was built but insisted that a legal agreement giving them access is currently being drawn up.