A Cornwall councillor has asked Cabinet members to ensure that project funding is set in stone for communities that will have a new town built on their doorstep.

Dulcie Tudor, councillor for Threemilestone and Gloweth, said she wanted to ensure that residents in her area would get some benefits from having the Langarth Garden Village built nearby.

Cornwall Council is leading on the major development which could see up to 4,000 homes built along with roads, schools, shops, community and health facilities.

Describing it as “the largest new development in Cornwall’s history” Cllr Tudor said it was vital that the council stood by its pledge of “enhancing the quality of life for existing communities”.

The Cabinet agreed on Wednesday to provide up to £888,000 to invest in new facilities, including a new school hall, at Threemilestone School.

But Cllr Tudor highlighted four other projects in Threemilestone which could be in line for funding but have not been guaranteed.

These include improvements to Threemilestone Community Hall; improvements to Threemilestone village centre including pedestrian and cycle links to Langarth Garden Village; improvements to access and infrastructure at Threemilestone Industrial Estate; and playing pitches and facilities at Threemilestone.

On the final project Cllr Tudor said that both junior and adult football teams currently have nowhere to play in the village.

She added: “This one is particularly close to my heart because the teams and myself were given to understand they would have the use of two training pitches in the initial plans for the Stadium for Cornwall. That was before the full council voted on the £3 million match-funding for the stadium. After that passed the two pitches were removed from the plans.”

The Lib Dem councillor said she welcomed the Cabinet’s commitment to carry out project development on the four schemes but was concerned that the report to Cabinet states “some schemes may simply prove unviable or unworkable”.

She said: “If the council is not fully committed to delivering these projects to fruition, improving and enhancing the lives of the existing community, then the council is failing in its duty to its own agreed number-one principle then what is the point of the council intervention?”

Cllr Tudor asked the Cabinet to support the projects but to put conditions in place to ensure there could be “no back-tracking”.

She added: “As Cornwall Council we cannot seek to impose a development of this size on the existing community. We must bring people along with us.”

The Threemilestone councillor also questioned the decision to provide £612,000 to All Saints Church in Highertown towards its £1.9m Lifehouse Project community centre.

She asked what the justification was for the council to give money “to a faith organisation for a project not in the existing community but two miles away”.

Truro Tregolls councillor Loic Rich said he was still concerned about the impact that the Langarth Garden Village will have on Truro itself and called for more information to be made available about what the impact will be.

Bob Egerton, Cabinet member for economy and planning, said he was confident that there would be a “very good package” of measures for Threemilestone and said that none of the projects would happen without the development.

He said he did not consider the Lifehouse Project to be a “faith project” because it was open to all community groups regardless of religion.

“I think it is a wonderful example of people working beyond their practiced religion and it will have a wider use for people all along the whole corridor,” he said.

Turning to the Threemilestone projects he added: “We can’t guarantee that every single project on that list will work. We are asking you to work with us so that we can do this rather than constantly saying we haven’t done enough.”

And responding to Cllr Rich he added: “We have always been clear that this new community will be complimentary to Truro and not competing with it.

“It will be very close to Truro – Truro will get a benefit from people coming into Truro to spend their money. I just don’t believe that Truro won’t benefit from it.”

Speaking after the meeting, Reverend Jeremy Putnam, priest in charge at All Saints Highertown and Baldhu, said: “I really am over the moon that the councillors have voted to invest in the community in this way. In human terms this will make a tangible difference to the lives of many thousands of people over the coming years.”