A bid to restrict housebuilding around Truro will be put on hold after being blocked by city councillors.

On Monday Truro City Council considered a request from a steering group set up to review the existing Truro and Kenwyn Neighbourhood Development Plan.

Members of the group, which consists of members of the city council and Kenwyn Parish Council, wanted to create a development boundary around Truro to give better protection to green spaces around the city.

If adopted the boundary would put restrictions in place for where developments would be allowed and provide extra protection for sites that people do not want developed.

However, as this would be a fundamental change to the neighbourhood plan, some councillors were concerned that it would mean a delay in finalising the plan, as it would require another round of public consultation.

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City councillor Maurice Vella proposed that there should be no development boundary included in the plan now, but said that it should be something to be pursued at the next revision of the plan.

He said that while a boundary “would give better protection” he did not think it was worth “ditching everything that we have done”.

Stuart Roden said that the council should include the development boundary to protect the city.

He explained: “We all want the best for Truro and to stop this insidious creep of developers, this urban creep.

“We have to put a line in the sand and say no more. A development boundary does give a clear indication of where the line is.”

Cllr Roden said that he had looked at plans adopted by other towns in Cornwall, which have included similar development boundaries, including Liskeard, Fowey, Newquay and Hayle.

Rob Nolan said that a development boundary had been considered when the plan was drawn up but was not included on advice of planning officers.

He said: “The reason being is that neighbourhood plans are not allowed to be anti-development. A boundary would be anti-development unless you sit down and consider all the land (to be used for development) for the next few years.”

He also said that adding a development boundary now would “waste a year” in setting the plan due to the consultation required.

Dulcie Tudor, who has been a vocal supporter of a development boundary, said that she had asked developers what they thought of the current plan and that they laughed at her, saying it was “an open door”.

She said: "I do not have any confidence at all that what we have got there at present is going to protect our green spaces.”

Truro mayor Bert Bisoce said that the development boundary was “a really serious issue” but ultimately just “a line on a map” unless it was backed up by strong policy, which had been created through consultation.

He said that he could remember life before the neighbourhood plan was in place and that now it set out a five-year land supply the council had been able to reject planning applications, which had then been successfully defended at appeal.

“We have started to win the day,” he said. “We have got more control over the planning process in Truro now than we did prior to the neighbourhood plan.”

He said deciding such a boundary could not be rushed and that he had thought long and hard about the issue, but could not support the recommendation for a boundary, as he was "not entirely certain" it would effective.

He added that there would be another review of plan “in one or two years’ time”.

When put to the vote the city council was tied with nine votes in favour and nine against a proposal to not add a boundary and look at it in the next review. Cllr Biscoe used his casting vote to carry this through.

Cllr Tudor said after the meeting that Kenwyn Parish Council, which had also been debating the issue on Monday, had voted in favour of including a development boundary.