Planning documents published in connection with the Langarth Garden Village show that Cornwall Council is setting out plans for 4,000 homes – 50 per cent more than previously expected.

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) scoping report has been submitted to the council’s planning department regarding the development on the outskirts of Truro.

It states that it is assessing a masterplan being drawn up by the council for a development of 4,000 homes.

Last month the council’s Cabinet member for economy and planning, Bob Egerton, denied that the council was aiming to have 4,000 homes in the development.

He was responding to a question from the council’s Conservative group leader Linda Taylor who asked whether the 4,000 number was correct.

Planning permission is in place for 2,700 homes across various sites but the 4,000 number had been cited in the council’s bid for funding for the Northern Access Road which will serve the development.

Cllr Egerton told a meeting of the council’s Cabinet that there were no plans for 4,000 homes and that the figure had only been used in order to secure the £47 million funding for the new road.

However the EIA documents refer throughout to the plans for 4,000 homes and is based entirely on that number.

The EIA also includes a map of the area which is marked “may be commercially sensitive”.

This includes the sites which already have planning permission but also includes a further large area to the north east of the site.

Cornwall Council is leading the plans for the Langarth Garden Village after the various developments which have planning permission stalled.

Planning consent has been given for 2,700 homes and various facilities including shops, health centres, schools, hotels, pubs and restaurants.

Cllr Egerton has previously said the council made an intervention on the overall development in order to create a more cohesive plan and to avoid a number of estates being constructed.

The EIA has received response from consultees including NHS Kernow which highlighted errors in the report and also said it needed more information before it could determine what healthcare provision would be needed across the garden village development.

Rachel Hammond, a member of the public, was criticial of the overall plans and said they could have a major impact on Truro city centre.

She wrote: “This ‘development’ at Langarth will exacerbate still further this decline of Truro’s streets. It will draw shoppers away from the streets, taking jobs and locally-owned business with it. This will spiral – the more shops in the city centre that close, the fewer reasons people will find to go there, causing yet more business closures. Any jobs supposedly created at Langarth won’t be additional jobs, they will merely be jobs displaced from the city centre – without any net growth.”

She adds: “Truro is also an attractive but underused tourist destination, our city has so much to offer residents, commuters and visitors and various local organisations are working hard to promote it. So many businesses and individuals are working so hard, you should be working with us not against us.”