Likelihood of 'buried remains' on land behind post office

A previous application to demolish the Royal Mail post office and sorting office on High Cross Street was approved in February 2023. The new plans bring the scheme in line with current policy and address some of previous concerns.

The site is within the St Austell Conservation Area and is within the medieval core of the town. It is surrounded by Grade II buildings, including the Grade I Holy Trinity Church which is 200 metres from the site and the Grade II* Market House. 

The new application states: "It has been previously mentioned that there is a likelihood of surviving buried remains and it’s been requested that before the commencement of any works are started, an archaeological desktop study was carried out."

The site is off East Hill, to the back of the former sorting office. Image: Google Street View

It is proposed that a reddish washed brick would be primarily used for the apartment building.

Documents accompanying the application, put together by architects Ercle, state that the front of the site has historically had permitted development approved for the development of ten self-contained residential apartments.

"At the time of writing, Ercle has resubmitted the scheme as nine self-contained residential apartments as previous schemes have been below technically described space standards," it adds.

How the apartments would look from East Hill. Image: Google Ercle Architects/Cornwall Council

The site for this latest application is located on land behind the former post office and has remained vacant for a number of years. It was previously been granted permission to be developed into 24 residential flats and this application is a resubmission of that development "bringing it in line with current policy and addressing previous concerns from the approved scheme."

It states that two "key items of note" around the site are 'The Club' and the communal pedestrian access, near the southern boundary with East Hill.

The apartment building would be built on High Cross Street, St Austell, if approved (Pic: Cornwall Council planning application / Google Earth)

It goes on to explain that The Club is a larger building on northern boundary of the site - the location of which resulted in noise reports for a previous residential proposal. However, it later goes on to add: "Given the central location and surrounding extant build form, noise associated with the development is deemed as providing a low impact."

With regards to the other item of note, it states: "The stone wall on East Hill was of particular concern to Historic England and maintaining the conservation area. A more detailed plan has been submitted with this application following their concerns and request for clarity on the matter."

For more details see planning application on Cornwall Council's planning portal, via its website, under reference PA24/0429.