Work has begun on a controversial development which will change the view ‘to the lighthouse’ from Virginia Woolf’s former St Ives home, Talland House.
Work under way at the Terrace site in front of Talland House. Photos: Ed Norbury
However, a pending amendment to the scheme, which would see an extra five feet added to the height of the development, is to be challenged at County Hall.
Planning permission for the development — to build 12 self-contained units with associated parking — was originally approved back in 2009. The site, however, at the top of The Terrace, opposite apartments connected to the Harbour Hotel, has not been worked upon in 16 years.
Last year, the developer, Windingbrook Developments, decided to get going with the project, but submitted an amendment to the original plan.
Managing director Richard Gartside said the revised scheme would see “the overall scale and massing of the building would remain broadly the same”. However, at a planning committee meeting on Thursday, St Ives town councillors heard that the scheme now had an extra five feet of height.
The view ‘to the lighthouse’ which will be lost
As if local campaigners were not unhappy enough that the development is finally going ahead, the extra height has not gone down well. They asked St Ives councillors what could be done in relation to the amended plan.
They were reminded that the town council’s planning committee considered this application in December. It resolved to object strongly, on the grounds that the cumulative changes proposed were worthy of a new application based on a comprehensive re-assessment of the site.
In addition, given the importance and heritage significance of Talland House and the amount of time since the original planning permission was granted, it resolved that Cornwall Council should consider the case for quashing the permission.
Councillors Andrew Mitchell and Luke Rogers, who serve on Cornwall Council as well as the town council, agreed that they would take up the concerns over the latest amendment to the plan at County Hall at the earliest opportunity.
