Falmouth councillors have done a u-turn on their opposition to plans to build a new veterinary hospital on land at Bickland Water Road after being told the basis of their recommendation to refuse was incorrect.

The council's planning committee had urged Cornwall Council to reject the application claiming the proposed new hospital would be larger than the unit which already has approval for the site. However, they have been told this is not the case by Cornwall Council principal development officer, Dan Mitchell.

He said: " have compared the previous scheme allowed on appeal against the current submission and the fact is that the current plans are actually a smaller footprint and of less height to ridge than the originals. Also the outer walls of the main building are not any closer to the Bickland Water Road, the reorientation of the building will actually significantly reduce the bulk of the building adjacent to the road and the scheme is now

much more bespoke with some design merit rather than a speculative commercial/industrial unit.

"The application is to be recommended for approval, it will deliver high quality jobs and be a design improvement relative to the original extant permission."

As a result, town councillors were asked to reconsider their stance and the committee is now supporting Mr Mitchell's recommendation to approve the plans. Budock Parish Council, however, is standing by its opposition to the scheme and is requesting that the application be put before a meeting of the central sub area planning committee, rather than approved under delegation.

The plans have been submitted by the Rosemullion Veterinary Practice which is currently based in Falmouth's Melvill Road with branches in Penryn, Helston and Mitchell. Its premises in Falmouth is an accredited tier three veterinary hospital, one of only two in Cornwall, but this status is under threat because of the limitations of the site,

The practice had made plans to move to a site behind Asda in Penryn, but decided the Bickland Water Road site was more suitable. "This is a site we could do more with," said James Kennedy, a director at Rosemullion. "We felt it was more suitable for our needs. We did not really foresee any problems with planning because there was planning permission already in place and thought ours would be more favourable.

"It (the new hospital) will provide a much higher level of service for both our own clients and others around Cornwall - we need more specialist facilities."

To view the full proposals and comment on them, search for planning application PA15/06439 at www.cornwall.gov.uk.