Some months ago, South West Water lodged a planning application with Cornwall County Council to build a sewage treatment works at Trevalga in an area that is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site of the proposed sewage treatment works is also close to the Heritage Coast, and would be clearly visible from the South West coast path, as well as from the gold-rated footpath between Welltown and Trethevey.

The Caravan Club's very successful site at Trewethett Farm would be adjacent to the planned sewage treatment works; hardly a welcome feature for the many holidaymakers that bring their tents and caravans to this very popular site. Indeed, the whole scheme would be most harmful to the tourist industry, not to mention the local economy.

Apart from being situated in a very scenic part of Cornwall, the site chosen by South West Water is highly visible and very exposed. There is significant local opposition, particularly from those who live at Trevalga, as they would not benefit from the scheme at all. At Trevalga there is not a mains water supply, and as a consequence there is not any requirement for a sewage treatment works in that vicinity. 

Most of the sewage would be pumped over a considerable distance from Boscastle, which would be against Policy 6 of Cornwall County Council's Structure Plan 2004, which states that waste should be managed as close to source as possible, that any infrastructure should not intrude into the countryside, and that waste management should provide benefits with minimal damage to the environment.

Alternative sites are available, but these seem to have been rejected without much thought and some behind-the-scenes negotiation and agreement.

Although a planning meeting held on January 15, 2009, postponed a decision until a feasibility study could be completed on the possibility of either lowering or completely burying the sewage works, local residents and Trevalga Parish Meeting are worried that the scheme will be imposed on their community without thought to the harm that would be caused to the rural environment and its economy, and because of political manoeuvrings.

The chairman of CPRE Cornwall has written to Cornwall County Council to express concern over the scheme, on environmental grounds, especially as the location at Trevalga is within as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is to be hoped that the views of local residents and many other objectors will be taken into account by the planning committee, and that the planning application will be refused.

Campaign to Protect

Rural England,

Cornwall.