The Royal Duchy Hotel plans to build a new block of houses are acceptable if they are only for local people.

The application was brought before Falmouth Town Council's planning committee last night (29th).

The hotel on Cliff Road applied for permission to knock down unused garages and old staff accommodation to build six residential mews houses.

A spokesperson from CAD Architects said that the current buildings offer no appearance of function and the owners believe it is "entirely appropriate" they should be put to use.

It is considered that the houses will improve the setting of the hotel and enhance the conservation area.

However, the plans have been met with frustration from nearby residents who were also at the meeting to oppose the plans.

An elderly couple Mr and Mrs Williams, living close to the hotel spoke at the meeting. They voiced concerns about the loss of light to the property, and that it will look out of place in the area.

They said:

"This application appears to have been rather rushed. We only found out about it in the newspaper, we have had no letter. We are very close to it and we are concerned about the loss of light, 80% of our light comes from that direction and they are going to put a three storey development up that will take a lot of that. There is also a question over the privacy glass, will they be able to see into our lounge, dining room? We just don't feel that this development is in keeping with the conservation area at all."

Mr Williams concluded by questioning whether the houses would truly be a residential development.

Opening the debate, Councillor Eva commented:

"They are using the garages to build residential buildings but they won't be for local people. They say the garages aren't used but I go past there quite a bit and they have been taking furniture out of those buildings. I disagree they aren't used.

"The only way I can support this is if it was accepted they wouldn't be used for Air Bnb, and offer them out to local families. I could not support this for extra accommodation for the hotel."

A proposal was put forward to recommend approval of the plans with conditions, as long as the homes were for local people and key workers. The committee voted in favour of that proposal.

[H3] See the latest news on our Twitter and Facebook pages. [.H2]