A housing development which will provide 25 affordable homes for local people in Constantine has been granted planning permission.

Coastline Housing had applied to build the homes on land north of Trebarvah Court in Constantine with every home to be affordable.

However the application had attracted a strong objection from Constantine Parish Council which said that the village would not be able to support more homes.

The parish council also claimed that affordable housing officers had "artificially inflated" the number of people on the housing waiting list in the area.

Cornwall Council's west sub-area planning committee heard that there are currently 54 households on the housing waiting list who have a local connection to Constantine. Of those 49 are currently living in the parish.

Planning officers had recommended that the plans should be approved by the committee saying that they considered the development was appropriate in terms of size and scale and would also meet housing need in the area.

They said that it was seen as being an extension of the village rather than a development into the countryside.

Georgina Hayman, development manager for Coastline Housing, said that there was a real need for the affordable homes.

"We are in the middle of a housing crisis which has been made worse by covid. There has been a rise in families being evicted so that homes can be used as Airbnbs or sold as second or holiday homes."

She said that it was "holding back quality of life in our county" and said that Coastline was trying to provide affordable homes to help local people.

Earlier plans for the site had proposed 33 homes to be built there but Coastline then reduced this to 28 before cutting it back again to 25 following discussions with local people and councils.

Georgina said that the homes, which will be a mix of affordable rent and shared ownership, would require people to have a local connection to be able to move in.

She said: "Coastline are committed to providing local homes for local people, that is our primary objective. We wouldn't provide homes in a parish where there isn't a recognised need."

Local Cornwall councillor for Constantine, John Bastin, said that while he was in support of affordable housing he was unsure about the location for this development.

He said he was concerned that the council has declared a climate emergency but that people living in these homes would have to drive to access local services.

Committee member Andrew Mitchell said: "I am reassured that it is Coastline as the developer in this instance, they do a good job in providing a good product for tenants and the council."

Mike Thomas was not so certain, stating: "You can't really fault it, the number of parking spaces is spot on. But it seems to be in the wrong place. I find myself really torn on this.

"We have had the climate change issues and we have spent hours debating and voting on that. We were told that if we had Langarth it would stop the proliferation of developments like this.

"Instead we are building these houses in places where people will be required to use cars if they want to access services in local towns."

Loveday Jenkin said that she was concerned about the biodiversity loss on the site and said that many councillors would not want to see development in the countryside.

She added: "But there is a need and it has been identified as being within the parish, 49 people living in the parish who are on the housing list.

"We are not talking about mass in migration into Constantine, we are talking about meeting a need in Constantine parish."

John Keeling said that it was not often that planning applications are for 100% affordable housing and that was why he was supporting it.

The committee voted to grant planning permission with nine votes in favour, none against and one abstention from Cllr Bastin as he is the local member.