THE proposal to build a replacement building and new car park at Bude’s pitch and putt has been refused by Cornwall Council.

The news will come as a great relief to the 2,500 concerned residents who signed a digital petition against the plans, many of them angry and disappointed that Bude-Stratton Town Council had even submitted the application in the first place.

Residents came out in force at a meeting of the council on September 3 to ask why an application had been submitted for ‘another car park in Bude’, especially when there is already one close to the Summerleaze Downs pitch and putt facility that is hardly ever full, apart from during the busy summer period.

Cllr Frank Partridge said at the meeting that the application to Cornwall Council was merely made to save time and effort discussing the matter, and not necessarily to ever go along with the plans, but instead to find out what planning limitations on the area were.

But some residents said that by ‘saving time and effort’, the town council was wasting public money by putting forward the planning application.

Cornwall councillor for Bude Liberal Democrat Nigel Pearce advised those at the meeting who had signed the petition to object on the Cornwall Council website. He said that despite the 2,500 online petition signatures, there were only 18 comments on the planning website, explaining that that is how Cornwall Council would really take note.

Since then, a further 150 objection comments had been added and Cornwall Council made the decision the vast majority of townspeople had been hoping for.

The council objected to the application on the grounds that the proposed car parking, by reason of its location on former tennis courts within Summerleaze Downs, would result in the loss of recreational space and introduces a physical and perceived coalescence between the built form of Flexbury and Bude, which erodes and harms the open recreational character of the green space defined an Open Area of Local Significance.

As such, the proposal was contrary to saved policies of the North Cornwall Local Plan 1999 and aspects of the National Planning Policy Framework 2012.

Mary Welford, who had first organised the digital petition, said: “Petitions are a great way to canvas opinion. The strength of response was almost audible and galvanized the community. A packed council meeting and over 160 objections on Cornwall Council’s website followed.

“Having achieved the outcome we wanted, we now need to stay engaged in discussions about proposed developments in the area and make sure our views are heard — and most of all listened to.”