The Western Morning News 20/07/2004
Campaigners fighting to stop a £200 million holiday village being built on a Westcountry beach by applying to have it registered as a village green are to have their case heard at a public inquiry.
A Cornwall County Council panel agreed yesterday that an independent inspector should be appointed to hold an inquiry into the application at Carlyon Bay, near St Austell, and make recommendations to the council.
More than 300 local residents have filled in statements to the effect that the three inter-linked beaches at Carlyon Bay - Crinnis, Shorthorn and Polgaver - have effectively been a village green for their "lawful sports and pastimes as of right" for more than 20 years.
As well as using this argument to block the £200 million beach village with its 511 apartments proposed by London developer Ampersand, the residents also want the Government to intervene.
They, along with others, have waited since last autumn for Ministers to decide whether there should a separate inquiry on revised planning applications submitted in 2002-03 by Ampersand.
Beach owners Ampersand started preparatory construction work on site in January this year with the benefit of planning consents granted to the site's previous owners in the 1990s.
They have pledged to guarantee public access when their development is complete but for health and safety reasons they recently erected a steel barrier along the beaches as 40,000 tonnes of rock began to be delivered by sea barge.
County council planning solicitor Elizabeth Randall informed councillors at Truro yesterday: "An application has been received for the registration of land at Carlyon Bay as a village green.
"The application is supported by a considerable volume of evidence consisting of forms containing names and addresses of local persons.
"The activities claimed to have been carried out by these persons include leisure, swimming, picnics, sunbathing, pleasure, exercising dogs and angling.
"The owners of the land (Ampersand) have objected to the application."
Ampersand director Andy Woods said yesterday: "We're not at all surprised at the decision taken by the council panel to hold a non-statutory public inquiry into the village green application.
"There have been a number of similar applications across the country in the last couple of years.
"The decisions reached in those cases give us the confidence that we have an extremely strong case.
"Groups opposed to developments often use this tactic as a last resort to attempt to thwart proposals for which planning permission has been given.
"I am not aware of any comparable circumstances in which a site such as ours has been registered as a village green.
"For example, a case involving a private beach at Whitstable in Kent was recently dismissed following a similar inquiry.
"We accept that the council's decision is part of the standard process being adopted by the majority of local authorities to ensure that the application is given a fair hearing and that arguments for and against are properly considered.
"We believe our objections will stand the scrutiny of a full inquiry. We expect this matter to be quickly resolved.
"In the meantime it will have no impact on our plans. We will continue to implement our preliminary work on site as allowed by the 1991 permission."
Carlyon Bay Watch, an action group representing residents opposed to the scale of Ampersand's £200 million scheme, said yesterday that they were pleased the matter would be exposed to the "full scrutiny of a public inquiry."
Bay Watch spokesman Peter Browning said: "This is indeed good news.
"Although the developers have re-iterated their willingness to preserve public access, we feel strongly that it is vital to ensure the interests of all concerned are fully aired and addressed."
Mr Browning said: "Public spaces are more than ever precious spaces."