'Horror river of water' from housing site at Ruan Minor

That was the view of Mullion and St Keverne councillor Anthony Soady, who asked a Cornwall Council planning committee to refuse plans for five bungalows on land adjacent to Rosemerryn at St Ruan, a hamlet near Ruan Minor on the Lizard Peninsula.

Planning permission was previously refused for four dwellings on the site on the basis that the development would cause harm to the character of the area which is within what was formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which has now been renamed a National Landscape.

The decision was later reversed on appeal and the site now has permission for four detached dwellings. Work has already started to install the access.

Nigel Green, chair of Grade Ruan Parish Council, which “strongly opposes” the development, told the council’s west sub-area planning committee on Monday: “We need new affordable houses in our parish, not new open market dwellings.

"We believe it is too high density for this small hamlet and, in particular, the concreting over of a high proportion of the field will cause significant surface water run-off issues.

“Since the developers have broken through the hedge to create an entrance, neighbours have observed and videoed a river of water running down the road from the site, which is a new problem which did not exist before this development. With the addition of an extra dwelling on to an already crowded site there’s even less space for surface water mitigation.”

How the bungalow development could look once complete. Image: Cornwall Planning Group

He added: “St Ruan is a quiet hamlet with low density housing. Adding high density housing with a lot of people living in a small area will create greater noise and traffic on a quiet road. Adding an additional house with additional people and cars will only make the problem worse and impact the quality of life for the neighbours.”

A spokesperson for the applicant said the development would preserve the unique beauty of the area and the fifth house would not affect the size of the site.

Local member Cllr Soady said a recent site meeting was well attended by local residents, all expressing their strong objections to an additional property being added. He said it represented “unreasonable over-development in an area of outstanding natural beauty”.

Cllr Soady added that the decreased amount of space between properties could lead to an increased risk of fire spread. “They’re so crammed in there, you couldn’t get any more in.” He had seen the video of the water running down the street as referred to by Cllr Green – “quite honestly, it’s a horror story,” he added, saying it would only get worse when the site is concreted.

“The latest application is completely devoid of any consideration for the ambience and history of this much-loved quiet lane leading from the village to the church at St Ruan. It’s a clumsy and insensitive attempt to further over-develop a small field.”

Councillors believed that the permission given on appeal for four dwellings was sufficient for the site. The application was unanimously refused for a number of reasons including not being in character with the surrounding area.