A band of volunteers have been busy visiting over 130 of Falmouth's open spaces and compiling a list of the most valued which will be protected from "inappropriate" development under the town's neighbourhood plan.

The aim of the exercise has been to identify, assess and record Falmouth’s important parks, gardens, play areas, sports facilities and open green spaces so that the precious sites may be protected.

Falmouth Town Council launched the neighbourhood plan process early last year and, once approved, the plan, will be give the town much greater influence over the manner in which it will be developed. Without a neighbourhood plan, regional and national policies set the agenda, and developers have greater freedom to pursue planning proposals which may not be in the best interest of the local community.

The Falmouth neighbourhood plan process is being guided by a steering group and one of its first tasks was to seek input and opinions from residents and those who visit or work in the town. This was achieved by analysing over 1,300 responses to a community engagement questionnaire.

One of the key responses to the questionnaire was the strong desire to protect Falmouth’s open green spaces. Consequently, when a working group was established to address this issue, it began a process of identifying, assessing and valuing all the key open spaces in the town. To ensure the evidence recorded was consistent and meaningful, guidance was sought from Cornwall Council to provide a suitable assessment methodology.

The next step was to recruit the volunteers to visit the sites in question and to record such information as the current use of the site, views to and from it, special features, tree and plant cover, biodiversity, etc, and to then make a judgement on the overall value of the site. The sites evaluated included prominent, well known areas such as Kimberley Park and Pendennis Point, together with lesser known children’s play areas, grassed amenity areas in residential developments, playing fields, etc.

On completion of the work a policy will be included in the neighbourhood plan to protect from development all open spaces which have achieved a high value rating from the assessment process.

While the volunteers believe they have covered all important sites, they are keen to hear from residents who know of an area they think may have been overlooked. To check whether a site has been included in the assessment programme or make a suggestion, call the town council on 315559.

It is hoped that the neighbourhood plan will be completed later this year and approved and adopted in a referendum."Once this is achieved, development and growth will proceed in a manner which does no further harm to the treasured open green spaces, amenity sites and leisure areas which define Falmouth’s unique, enduring character," said David Yelland, one of the volunteers.