People protesting against plans for a housing development have called on councillors to hold off on making a decision until a public meeting can be held.

Cornwall Council’s west sub-area planning committee is due to discuss plans to build 94 homes on land off Tregenna Lane in Camborne on Monday (June 1).

But due to the coronavirus pandemic they will be holding the meeting virtually online.

While members of the public will be able to listen in to the meeting and also make comments over the phone they will not be visible to councillors.

The reserved matters application – for details after outline permission is granted – previously went before the committee when it was refused permission due to concerns about surface water drainage. At that meeting dozens of objectors attended and spoke against the plans.

Planning officers have recommended approval for the plans saying that the issue around drainage had been addressed through plans for a water course.

The development already has outline planning permission and the current application is for reserved matters only.

John Buddle, who lives close to the site, is one of those who has been campaigning against the development proposals. He said that the Tregenna Lane Action Group and wider community were united in their opposition.

He is not only concerned about the drainage issues but also about the design and layout of the homes.

Mr Buddle felt that holding the meeting online would hinder the opportunity of opponents to put their case to councillors.

“It is an issue of democracy as to whether applications such as this should be decided under emergency powers at a virtual meeting where you can’t get 50 or more people there to back our case.

“We are pretty annoyed about this. The council’s own guidelines are pretty clear about this and says that inevitably there will be some contentious applications where a decision would not be in the public interest until a full hearing can be held.

“We have asked them to hold off, but feel that they have ignored our pleas.

“We feel that the applicants are using this window of opportunity to get this fudged through.”

Camborne Town Council has also objected to the plans due to the concerns about the drainage, issues around the design and concerns about sustainability and the environment.

The West Sub-Area Planning Committee is due to meet on Monday (June 1) – the meeting will be available to hear online.