The University College Falmouth’s attempts to expand its Woodlane Campus hit another speed bump this week when the town council said “enough is enough.”

At a meeting of the town planning committee last Tuesday, John Bignell of Bristol-based APG Architects told councillors that his client, the university, was looking for a “simple 800 metre extension somewhere on the campus” and that the proposed building was of a “reasonable domestic scale”.

He compared this latest application to the one that had been rejected in June.

“The first design was a simple copy of the building below,” he said.“We withdrew it so we could listen to people’s objections and hopefully accommodate everybody’s wishes.”

Neighbouring residents and the town council had slammed the previous design for being “unneighbourly” and an unnecessary addition to an already overdeveloped site.

Despite claims by Mr Bignell that this new design “reduced the building down in scale” and took into account resident’s fears of being overlooked, the site’s closest neighbour Martin Dillon said “this building remains unneighbourly, overbearing and out of scale.”

He added: “It will destroy the privacy of my garden, which is the only open space we have [as a family].”

Peter George, a long term resident of Fox’s Lane that backs on to the campus, was astonished to see another proposal submitted so soon after the previous one had been rejected.

He asked: “What has changed to make it acceptable now? The revised plans actually have a larger footprint then the original plans submitted earlier this year.

“We currently hear and see extraction fans on all night and lights left on for days on end – this will only increase.”

Councillor Charlie Choak opened the committee’s debate on the issue by setting out his stall against the plans.

“I think enough is enough,” he said, “this has been brought to us four times now with only slight changes. It has got out of hand. It’s definitely overdevelopment.

“I think it’s time we stood up as councillors and said we have had enough,” he added, to applause from the 20 or so objectors present.

Referring to the “mingling” area and social space laid out in the new proposal, councillor Jenny Booth said: “the potential for noise in those chilling out areas – well, we all know what children are like.

“It’s going to cause huge problems for everybody. I think they [the university] should go and look back up at Tremough.”

Councillor Oliver Cramp described the plans as “very unfortunate” because he would have liked to “support the university,” which he described as a “major asset” and a “major economic driver” for the town.

But he felt obliged to back “the people of the town” in their objections to the university’s expansion.

Mayor Geoffrey Evans, as Cornwall councillor for the area, added his voice to the objectors before the application went to the vote.

All members of the planning committee voted to recommend refusal for the application, except for chair Diana Merrett who abstained.

Planners from Cornwall Council will now make the final decision.