RESIDENTS in Launceston expressed their disappointment recently when they were unable to attend a meeting discussing the Kensey Valley area of the town.

Two Kensey Valley residents went along to the meeting about ‘Kensey Valley Site Allocation’, a meeting between Cornwall Council, Launceston Town Council and local landowners, on September 22, in the Guildhall.

Residents of Kensey Valley have been attending recent town council and Cornwall Council Community Network Panel meetings, and have put forward their concerns regarding the potential for a Kensey Valley Link Road.

A document called the Site Allocations Development Plan Document (Allocations DPD), is currently going through a period of public consultation, with Cornwall Council seeking the views of local residents.

The document looks at the proposed location for housing and commercial development, up to 2030, in Launceston, as well as how infrastructure can be improved so proposed growth can be supported and managed.

In the Allocations DPD, 3.6ha in the Kensey Valley has been allocated for employment space and approximately 60 dwellings, along with a Kensey Valley Link Road, to connect Kensey Valley Meadow to Newport Industrial Estate.

Before they were asked to leave the meeting last month, one of the residents said she challenged the attendees by saying: “What you are doing down there will affect us and you are not being transparent about it.

“We care about what’s going on down there.”

Cornwall Council said in developing the Allocations DPD, it needs to engage with landowners, and that it is ‘sometimes necessary for these meetings to be confidential because of the commercial sensitivity of the issues under discussion’.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council told the Post: “This was the case for the meeting held in Launceston last week where the importance of clarifying local priorities to help shape any future development proposals for the Kensey Valley area were discussed with landowners.”

However, the spokesperson said notes from the meeting would be made available upon request, once agreed.

Notes from the meeting show general discussion was held around local aspirations for development at Kensey Valley, constraints of the site and deliverability issues.

It was recommended that the ‘Kensey Valley Link Road’ should not be developed to a standard that would encourage use of HGVs to cut through current and future development.

The notes continued: “Instead, the future road, linking Kensey Valley Meadow with Newport Industrial Estate, should be built as an estate road and for the purpose of serving local traffic. The term ‘Link Road’ is misleading and should therefore be removed from future policy.”

Other recommendations from the meeting included that development for employment uses should be confined to the extent of the existing Newport Industrial Estate, and that provision of open space and pedestrian and cycle links through the site must be a pre-requisite for any future development.

Liberal Democrat Cornwall Council for Launceston Central Gemma Massey said: “I pushed for residents to be permitted to attend the meeting but this was not legally possible due to commercial confidentiality. Instead it was agreed that notes would be made available to all with commercially sensitive information removed.

“I am in constant communication with the Kensey Valley Residents’ Association and I have asked to attend their next meeting again to discuss this in detail once the notes are published. I was pleased to hear that the plans coming forward from landowners will provide affordable housing, open spaces, improvements to the riverside and woodland areas, cycle routes and paths, clear aspirations of both the town council and also many residents I have spoken with; and continue the estate road. It won’t be suitable for HGVs but will ultimately provide another route out of Kensey Valley Meadow so that residents won’t be stuck in the estate in the same way those at Stourscombe currently are whenever accidents or roadworks occur.”

The meeting heard the Kensey Valley area policy will be amended to take into account the recommendations, after the current period of public consultation.

The public consultation on the Allocations DPD runs until Monday, November 14.

The Allocations DPD can be viewed on the council’s website at www.cornwall.gov.uk/allocationsplan, where the public can also complete an online questionnaire.

The document and questionnaires will also be available at Launceston Library and One-Stop-Shop on Bounsalls Lane.

Residents can also provide feedback to the consultation by emailing [email protected] or sending responses to: Allocations DPD, Cornwall Council, Dolcoath Avenue, Camborne, TR14 8SX.

Following the consultation, Cornwall Council will be reviewing all the representations which have been made and revising the Allocations DPD as appropriate. The revised ‘submission stage’ Allocations DPD will then be subject to a further formal stage of public consultation in 2017.