The owner of Flambards is worried that screams from the park will lead to restrictions on his business if a proposed 480-home development is built next door.

Ian Cunningham, who bought the theme park in late 2013, said he |was surprised that it had not |been factored into council plans |or the developer’s outline planning application.

At a meeting of Helston Town Council’s planning committee last Wednesday, he told councillors that he was worried noise complaints could lead to restrictions being imposed on the popular attraction.

He said: “They would have a right to complain about noise coming from Flambards; screams from the rollercoasters and amplified music.

“It’s like a theme park; and a |theme park without noise is not |a theme park.”

Nick Jackson, the planning agent for David Martin, the developers responsible for the planning proposal, told councillors that the issue had only been brought to the company’s attention ten days ago.

He told them that an acoustic survey had been commissioned, and as this was only an outline planning proposal, many aspects of it could be changed, including the number and location of the houses on the site.

The committee chairman, Councillor John Martin, asked whether it would be best to wait until the survey had been conducted before making a decision on the application, “because without that it could be a completely unviable application, if 50 per cent of the site is going to be blighted.”

The council also asked that |the survey be carried out during |the current school holiday, as this would provide a truer reflection of |the noise levels than a study at |off-peak times.

Councillor Mike Thomas, the town mayor, raised his own concerns over having only one access point, a newly built roundabout on the A394 on the development’s eastern edge, and said it would be better to have a second access point at the May Tree roundabout, allowing access towards Falmouth and Truro and cutting traffic on Clodgey Lane.

Councillor Martin said this was among several concerns which had been raised on Cornwall Council’s online planning register, along |with the potential strain 480 homes would put on Helston’s schools |and medical facilities Cornwall Councillor Judith Haycock told the meeting she was worried about the out of the way pedestrian access, as she thought it would lead to people cutting across traffic on Clodgey Lane to get into the town centre.

The committee resolved that a decision on the application be deferred until the next meeting of the full council on April 16, to allow it to receive more information from the planning officer and the results of the acoustic survey.