Camborne’s Business Improvement District (BID) team has reacted to the news that the out-of-town retail development has been recommended for approval.

It will object strongly when Cornwall Council’s Strategic Planning Committee meets next Thursday at County Hall to decide on two planning applications relating to the Roseworthy Hill proposal.

BID directors are encouraging Camborne’s business owners to attend the meeting and protest against applications that they believe will have a devastating impact on local town centre trade.

BID Camborne manager Anna Pascoe, who will speak at the meeting, said: “At a time when central government policy is all about supporting our high streets, we’re aghast that the committee is giving serious consideration to a plan that will rip the heart out of our town.

“These are out-of-county developers who have no vested interest in our community and the additional jobs they talk about are highly likely to be mostly low-waged and part-time.

"There is absolutely no need for this retail park and the fact that it will require a car for the majority of customers to get to it surely flies in the face of Cornwall Council’s declaration of a climate emergency and the need to reduce emissions.

If approved, the plans would see Lidl and Home Bargains stores, as well as a drive-thru coffee shop, being built on the site.

Despite acknowledging that "the proposal would have a clear adverse impact upon the health of Camborne town centre", and that "the scale of this impact is very close to becoming a significant adverse impact", the strategic planning report is recommending approval.

Anna added: “The livelihoods of the town’s hardworking business owners and their employees are being threatened and that is why we are objecting to these proposals in the strongest possible terms and why we are asking as many people as possible to go to the meeting and show they are against the plans too.”

Camborne Town Council also "strongly recommends" that both applications are rejected.

A previous meeting at Camborne Rugby Club last November showed the strength of local feeling, with attendees voicing a long list of reasons for the development not to go ahead – including the effect it would have on the town’s vitality and viability, high street job losses and the fact that the proposed site is not allocated in the Cornwall Development Plan document.

“If this is given the go-ahead, it could turn Camborne into a ghost town,” said BID Camborne chairman Sharron Lipscombe-Manley, owner of Delight2Bite in Cross Street.

She added: “The development will comprise faceless, characterless buildings that are not at all in keeping with our current architecture. Frankly it will look like a carbuncle, an unwanted cancer invading our green field sites. It’s monstrous that the applications have got to this stage and I urge everyone who loves Camborne to oppose them.”

The strategic planning committee meeting takes place in the Council Chamber from 10am on Thursday. Members of the public can attend but won’t be able to speak.