Plans to demolish Cornwall's only dedicated indoor climbing centre and four light industrial units in Penryn to make way for student accommodation have been revealed by developers.

Property management company Savills have requested pre-application advice on plans by landowners John Lewis Partnership Pension Trust to put 282 student units at Kernick industrial estate, on a site currently occupied by Granite Planet climbing centre.

The pre-application design and access statement, produced by Architect Design Group, shows plans for one five storey and one six storey accommodation block with amenity space between, including a laundry, site office and student common room, as well as a third, two storey building for light industrial or office based start-ups.

These would replace the two-storey Granite Planet building and four single storey units, three of which are currently occupied by Shield Environmental Services, Kernow Grow, and a business working for Falmouth University, while the fourth is currently vacant.

The plan appears to show 27 parking spaces, including ten next to the start-up building, with developers saying in the design statement that the site "offers suitable opportunity to create an appropriate number of parking spaces," and asking for feedback on access and parking.

Justifying plans to build on land designated for business use, in contravention of Cornwall Council planning guidelines, Savills agent Mark Tucker said the climbing centre had already been changed for business use, while other units were only on short term lease agreements.

He added that the start-up building would increase the amount of business floorspace at the site, while the plans would help meet the council's target for purpose built student accommodation and reduce pressure on local housing stock.

And it would be a logical extension to new accommodation which is to be built on the part of the campus which borders the site.

The plans follow a proposal for another purpose built student accommodation building two blocks away at Century House, including the current site of the Rebel Brewery.

During the pre-application process for that site, developers were told by planning officers to be aware that the Kernick Road estate is reserved for industrial and business use.

This follows a decision by the council's planning committee to override officers' recommendations and refuse permission for plans to remove several small industrial units on nearby Jennings Road and build a discount retail warehouse in their place.