Falmouth oil company's housing plans prompt "positive" response

A public exhibition held at the Princess Pavilion saw almost 100 people view plans for the development proposed by Famouth Oil Services (FOS).

The proposal is to demolish an existing oil storage tank set into the ground at Castle Drive and then sell the land on which around 37 two-storey flats would be created in 16 blocks by a separate development company.

The sale of the land would then fund the creation of a replacement tank on land inside the precinct of the docks, near to the company's other two tanks.

David Randle, FOS company secretary, said he was pleased with the reaction to the scheme when plans were viewed by the public. He said: "Generally I think people who are resident in the area were very positive indeed. It went very well."

He added that some residents were afraid the scheme included development on the neighbouring greenfield site, but he stressed that no work would be carried out on this area - apart from the addition of a footpath connecting the flats to the Ships and Castles leisure centre.

Mr Randle said some from of action was becoming increasingly necessary, due to the decline of the oil tank that was built in the 1950s.

"It's maintained by us to industry standards but we're looking at a terminal 50 to 55 years old now. It's very, very close to the end of its useful life. From an operational and security point of view it makes sense to have it all in one terminal," he added.

Mr Randle said FOS was an important company in the county, as it supplied all areas south of Bodmin.

The Castle Drive depot was used to store all distillate product - basically all the oil that went into the inland market, such as commercial sector heating. By staying local and keeping travelling costs down, this in turn kept the price of the cost down.

"We're a local company and we'd very much like to keep that supply from Falmouth," he concluded.