Seb NobleCornwall political reporter, in Illogan
BBCVillagers in Cornwall have raised concerns about their ability to challenge plans for housing developments once new planning laws come into effect.
Proposals have been drawn-up for 80 homes on land in Illogan – on the same site where a previous planning approval was overturned last year over environmental concerns.
Some residents said the government’s changes to the planning system would reduce the ability to legally challenge decisions and reform how nature was taken into account.
The government said legal challenges would still be allowed under the changes, which would help correct a broken system and help more people onto the housing ladder while still protecting the environment.
Barbara Laing, who lives near the site, said it had taken six years and thousands of pounds of her own money to prevent the original scheme after launching a judicial review.
“The biggest issue we had was the hedges. They are afforded protection – the planning permission did not take that into account.
“So we felt it was right to test the law. We took it to judicial review and we won.”
She feared challenging it in a similar version would be harder to do under changes contained in the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
“The first one is probably clause nine and that relates to access to a judicial review. The idea with the bill is that they limit that access,” Ms Laing said.
“And two, they intend to remove site-specific ecological surveys, which means we wouldn’t have known what was on site and what required protection. So it leaves us far less protection than we had in the past,” she argued.
She said about 170 people had attended a recent parish council meeting to discuss the proposals – with fears over the impact of the development on the village.
In a statement, Coastline Housing said it was in the early stages of designs for the “100% affordable” scheme – working with local developer EBC Partnerships – and it had met with the local community to discuss them.
It added: “The plan is to provide a mix of social rent and shared ownership homes for local people with a connection to Illogan Parish.
“These new homes will help meet the needs of the 218 households on the Cornwall Homechoice register with that local connection to the parish.
“We are always interested in hearing from residents living near a proposed development and from people who would like to live there.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government insisted people would still have the ability to make legal challenges.
A spokesperson added: “We inherited a failing system that has held up the construction of vital homes and infrastructure, blocking growth and doing nothing for nature’s recovery.
“Our Planning and Infrastructure Bill creates a win-win for the economy and nature – delivering better outcomes for the environment and helping us build 1.5 million homes to restore the dream of homeownership.”
