No sooner has a series of consultation roadshows held by the Penzance Market and Coastal Towns Initiative (MCTi) to coincide with its Penzance Futures document finished, than we find that the deadline for comments about the Penzance and Newlyn Area Action Plan is also looming fast (February 29).A major feature of the 108-page document concerns planning and the likelihood that, under the regional spatial strategy for the South West, Penwith is likely to have to find space for an extra 7,800 homes over the next 20 years (equivalent to 390 homes being built every year) with a large proportion of them in Penzance and Newlyn.

It is a frightening prospect and, with the need to build the equivalent of a small town, Penwith's sustainable development team has listed virtually every open space in the town as a possible development site.

These include Penzance's football, rugby and cricket grounds, the heliport and the Princess May recreation ground as well as areas like Love Lane and off Newlyn's Gurnick estate which are already being challenged as unsuitable by concerned residents.

There are going to be objections to new homes on many of the other sites too.

Now then is the opportunity for people to voice those concerns by filling in Action Plan questionnaire which can be accessed via the Penwith District Council website www.penwith.gov.uk

With Penwith's days numbered following the decision to install a unitary government in Cornwall, now is as good a time as any to get down on paper any concerns.

article copyright THE CORNISHMAN 

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