Western Morning News 16/08/2004
Opponents of a controversial £200 million holiday village on a Cornish beach are intensifying the pressure as the promoters of the scheme consider their next move.
Carlyon Bay Watch are waiting to see how London-based Ampersand respond tomorrow to a Government decision announced last Thursday to call in its revised scheme for a public inquiry.
Ampersand could be on the verge of dropping their revised plans, which involve demolishing the dilapidated Cornwall Coliseum, at Carlyon Bay, near St Austell, and instead stick to previous planning consents granted by Restormel Borough Council in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Carlyon Bay Watch spokesman Sara Barrett claimed yesterday that Ampersand was "whistling in the dark" if it thought it could still proceed with "extant" permissions whose validity will come under scrutiny. Mrs Barrett said: "For Ampersand to imply that we will have to live with such an outcome we believe is what has come to be called 'spin'. It also appears to be an attempt to make objectors to the scheme seem 'nimbyist' and resistant to change. This is not the case.
"Developments which affect the environment and infrastructure for miles around radiate resistance far beyond the back yard. Others are watching this with interest. Our website draws e-mails of support from all over the country. There is disbelief that this could be happening to such a beautiful stretch of coastline."
Mrs Barrett added: "Opponents of the proposals do not want to blight the area with a development based on short-sighted permissions granted during the get-rich-quick 1980s.
"Nor do we want a one-and-three-quarter-mile long strip of Costa-style concrete opportunism - state-of-the-art or otherwise.
"This is why we have been arguing for a public inquiry. We wish for a workable alternative to the 1989 permission, provided it is limited to the existing development footprint."
Claire Watson