Preparations are being made for a proposal for almost 300 homes covering a swathe of Falmouth stretching from Ponsharden up to Union Road near Budock.

Agents working on behalf of the church have begun preparing the ground for a planning application which could see houses spring up on either side of the Maritime Line railway between Falmouth and Penryn.

They have submitted a request to Cornwall Council for a formal screening option which would show whether an Environmental Impact Assessment would be required before any planning application could be made for the proposal.

The 13 hectare greenfield site, labelled as Falmouth North, has been earmarked for development in Cornwall Council's emerging Site Allocations Development Plan Document, the document which sets out where development should be focused in the near future.

The council have allocated 300 homes for the site, and a design accompanying the request shows plans for 298 units, with 88 detached, 116 semi-detached, 46 terraced and 48 flats, with the plan saying no building would be above three storeys in height.

Planning consultants Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners have been commissioned to work on the plans by the Church Commissioners for England.

They wrote in the application: "It is proposed that the residential-led development will include associated infrastructure, open space, access and parking. It is currently envisaged that an outline planning application will be submitted.

"The residential development is proposed to be split into two main hubs to the east and west, maintaining the existing separation of the site by the railway line running through the middle."

The agents said primary access would be from a new arm on the junction of the A39 and Union Road, and the two "hubs" would be connected by a new crossing over the railway replacing the existing narrow stone agricultural bridge. there will also be pedestrian and cycle access from Ponsharden roundabout from Lambs Lane via Trescobeas Park.

It is proposed that large areas of land are kept as open space, with sustainable urban drainage ponds and "landscaped barriers" along the roads and railway, and the retention of existing trees and hedgerows at the boundary edges "where appropriate."

The company concluded: "The proposed scheme for a residential-led development will effectively form an extension to the north western area of Falmouth."