RESIDENTS of what some believe could be the biggest housing estate in Cornwall have issued a call to arms to protect an open space of land from being developed.

People living in Swanvale, Falmouth, are being urged to write with their objections to plans by developer Wainhomes to build homes on a piece of land currently used for its sales office.

A planning application to build two homes on the site was refused permission when it went before Cornwall Council’s central sub-area planning committee last month.

But Wainhomes is believed to have submitted an appeal against the decision which will be considered by the planning inspectorate in Bristol.

So now residents are fighting back and urging as many people as possible to lodge objections to the appeal.

Local councillors and residents claim that the piece of land was always intended to be open space and say this was agreed when planning permission was originally granted for the housing development.

But at the planning committee last month Wainhomes claimed that the land was privately owned by the company and said there were no records to suggest that it was earmarked for open space.

However Falmouth town councillor Roger Bonney says he is 100% certain that there was a condition that it remain as open space and is set to sign a legal document saying that.

He said: “I remember seeing the paperwork – but it has been claimed that it has been lost.”

Cllr Bonney said that a lot of paperwork was damaged or lost when Carrick District Council was closed down for the unitary Cornwall Council.

Jayne Choak, who lives right next door to the site, said that she had been told that it would remain as open space.

She has been helping Cllr Bonney to deliver letters to every single house in the area asking people to help with their fight.

But she said there was a sense of resignation among some people: “They say ‘what’s the point?’ they feel as though this will happen no matter what.

“I sense that is how people feel in a lot of areas like this – they simply don’t think they can have any influence on what happens.

“This application was blocked by the town council and Cornwall Council but this appeal means that someone up in Bristol will make the decision.

“We want to make sure they hear from everyone here about what this means to them.”

Dr James Eva, who has lived in the area for 16 years, said that he had had ongoing problems with Wainhomes.

When he bought his home he said that one of the main attractions was that it had a sea view.

“We had spectacular sea views,” he said. “We were in there for four years and then they got permission for a building that was supposed to be two floors.

“We were able to see the whole beach from our home. They built this thing, instead of two floors it has three floors, it’s a block of flats. It cut off half of our sea view.”

The retired doctor said that while he agreed that nobody could own a sea view or had a right to one he felt that when it was a major selling point he did not expect it to be obscured.

“I am not talking about protecting the sea view but for me this is misselling. You spend a lot of money on buying a home and then the next thing you know the one thing that attracted you to it is taken away.”

Five years ago Dr Eva bought another property which sits behind the site of the sales office where Wainhomes now wants to build two homes. When he quizzed the sales rep further he says he was told “you can never say never with Wainhomes”.

He said: “When we bought that we were told that nothing would be built there. We were lied to 16 years ago and lied to five years ago.

“They only care about how much money they can make, they don’t care about the consequences.”

Cllr Bonney said: “This is not just an issue here in Falmouth – there are estates like this all over Cornwall and the developers just want to build as many houses as they can.

“We need people to contact the planning inspectorate about this and tell them what this means to them.”

In a statement Wainhomes said: ““We have submitted an appeal against the decision to refuse planning. We believe that our proposals set out a positive plan for the creation of two much-needed new homes.

“We understand there have been some comments regarding a wish for the area to be open space. However, this land has not been identified as a public open space.

“Our existing Swanvale development incorporates all necessary open space to meet set requirements.”