Developers wishing to build almost 300 family homes on farmland between Falmouth and Penryn will need to carry out preliminary environmental surveys, Cornwall Council has said.

Planning consultants Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, representing the landowners the Church Commissioners for England (CCE), had requested a screening opinion from the council on whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would be required as part of a planning application.

The council have allocated 300 homes for the site, a 13 hectare swathe of land stretching from Ponsharden up to Union Road near Budock, and straddling the Maritime Line railway between Falmouth and Penryn. It is currently understood to be farmland of Agricultural Land Classification Grade 2, the second best type of land in the country.

And a design accompanying the request shows plans for 298 units - 88 detached, 116 semi-detached, 46 terraced and 48 flats - with road access from a new link off the roundabout at the end of Union Road.

In his decision, Cornwall Council head of planning and enterprise Phil Mason said the work would require an EIA.

He wrote: "It comprises a Schedule 2 development, exceeds the relevant threshold and would be

likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of the scale, location and cumulative impact of the development proposed."