Falmouth councillors have refused to reconsider their opposition to the universities' bid to bring another 2,500 students to the Penryn Campus, claiming the town does not have the infrastructure to cope with the extra demand on services.

The town council has already lodged its opposition to the application from FXPlus, which is seeking consent to increase the current cap on the number of students at the Penryn Campus from 5,000 to 7,500.

At a meeting of the town council's planning committee on Monday night, Cornwall Council planning officer, Peter Bainbridge, told members they may wish to look again at the application before it goes to the strategic planning committee on December 8 as additional information will be coming forward.

The results of an extra highway survey and additional work looking into how student accommodation is going to be provided and how that would affect the application, is to be revealed in time for the town council to be able to reconsider its stance.

Members, though, have refused to look at the matter again, claiming they were being given "a load of flannel," and are unanimously sticking to their recommendation that the application be refused.

Cllr Rowenna Brock said: "This, for me, is almost less about the housing and more to do with our community mix. The students are a great and very important part of Falmouth and Penryn. I believe the combined population of Falmouth and Penryn is 33,000 so if we have 7,500 students that makes up 15 per cent of our population and that is not a good balance for me.

"We are struggling to house what we have now. Maybe in ten years when Falmouth has grown again, but not now. We do not have the infrastructure, the transport links, the health centres or the housing."

Cllr Vicky Eva added: "Some of the students chose this campus because it's a small university - they didn't want to go to a mega university complex. I am all for the university being here, I think it brings an economy to the town that we would not have had if they weren't here, but it's too much, too quick. Let's take our time. It's not fair on the community and not fair on the students themselves."

Cllr Steve Eva raised the fact that the cap has already been exceeded by 700 students and said those extra students should be told to "go home." He also accepted that he had voted against an Article 4 direction when he was a county councillor, but claimed that was because he had been "lied to" by officers.

He said: "The people of Falmouth can only be asked to take so much and we are bursting at the seams. We told them we cannot cope and they have ignored us and gone ahead with this. I am quite happy for the university to expand to 7,500 the day they complete the village for 2,500 to house those extra people. Until then the people of Falmouth and Penryn have to be respected and their views should be respected. Enough is enough."

During the meeting, Cllr David Saunby, who is not on the planning committee, presented Mr Bainbridge with a petition organised by the Save Our Falmouth Group which contains 3,000 signatures of people opposed the cap being raised.

Over 250 people have also lodged comments on Cornwall Council's website, which will be considered head of the strategic planning committee meeting when a decision is likely to be made. The application can be found by searching for PA16/03323 at cornwall.gov.uk.