First of all let me confirm my position - I am strongly in favour of affordable homes. There is a genuine need for affordable housing in Cornwall and we all tread the tightrope of making land available for housing whilst preserving the beauty of the county and its AONBs.

Developer First Step Homes has announced plans for 15 "affordable homes" outside of the development boundary in a rural field in the picturesque coastal village of Trevone, (classified an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - AONB). There is no planning permission and has been no consultation with the village yet they have put an advert in the local paper to find "buyers" are are leafleting Padstow and a number of neighbouring parishes.

The 2 story terraces are to be sold at over £100,000 despite their diminutive size. There is no impartial needs system to make sure people who really need the houses can buy them - according to their website it is "first come first served".

The entrance to Trevone is  characterised by a few single story bungalows on one side and beautiful green countryside on the other. These houses are planned to be over 6m high where the countryside currently is.

Trevone has little local infrastructure, and only seasonal low paid jobs. The local post office and shop future are uncertain. Buses go so infrequently as to be unusable by the working population. The road has no pavement, blind spots, concealed entrances and is recognised as extremely dangerous by the local council and police.

Having contacted the Council it is clear that the development wont stop there. They have supported the developer putting in a road in to the rest of the field to allow for more houses in the future. How many could they physically fit? Well they are only using 1/4 of the area available so you do the math. NCDC also confirmed that they wouldn't all have to be affordable under the 1 for 1 rule.

What's my view?

I am concerned that the developers are raising peoples' hopes without necessarily being able to fulfil them.

I think it is a great shame for Cornwall that rural landowners and property developers are using the current legislation relating to "exception sites" for affordable homes to urbanise areas of outstanding natural beauty. Once they are gone, they are gone for good, you can't take them back and they set the precedent for further development.

I am for affordable homes, and I think there are better locations in the parish and that they could be considerably cheaper. I think more could be done to make available viable brownfield and less sensitive greenfield sites using existing powers of Right To Buy. Were this to happen there is no reason not to provide houses of the size and type proposed in this scheme in locations with a supporting infrastructure for around £70,000-80,000 which is far more attainable/sustainable for the salaries in the area.