PLANS to build a house in St Columb Minor have been approved on appeal.

Inspector Matthew Jones has given the green light for a new dwelling to be built on land north of 5, Lower Barn Court, Priory Road.

Cornwall Council had refused the planning application as the delivery of housing on the site would “erode the historically low density verdant qualities of this transitional area between the countryside and the settlement.”

Mr Jones said: “The main issue is whether the site would be suitable for the proposed development, with reference to the development plan’s approach to the supply of housing and the character and appearance of the area.

“I do not share the view that the site offers any significant sense of low density or verdant transition into the adjoining open countryside. Rather, the site is innocuous and more within the settlement than not.

“A suitably designed dwelling set behind appropriately landscaped boundaries would simply reinforce the established interface between the nucleated settlement pattern of St Columb Minor and its rural setting. There is no evidence that the site is of any intrinsic high environmental or historic value.

“I appreciate that the access lane is basic and shared with pedestrians. However, there is no persuasive evidence that the modest vehicular movements associated with one additional dwelling would jeopardise highway safety nor the integrity of the network.

“I find that the adverse effects of the proposal on the integrity of the special area of conservation would be avoided. This opinion is shared by Natural England.

“The adjacent Church of St Columba is a Grade I listed building, and I have a duty to have special regard to the desirability of preserving its setting.

“The church draws a degree of its significance from its prime location at the top of the valley side, with the village gathered around it deferentially.

“Historic map regression evidences that the site was part of the field to the east and it makes no clear contribution to the significance the church draws from its setting either way. For the reasons given, the dwelling, if sensitively designed, would read as a simple and subservient addition to the housing around the church.”