Cornwall Council's plan to halve the capacity of the town's main car park to build six homeless pods would result in the loss of parking for around 10,000 cars per year according to a new report.

According to the planning application, the pod development would result in the loss of over half the Commercial Road Car Park, reducing the capacity from 80 to 37 spaces.

The report used a drone to carry out an aerial survey to measure the impact of this reduction, by counting the number of cars arriving each day that would be unable to park if the scheme went ahead.

The results suggest that six thousand to ten thousand vehicles per year would be affected based on current parking levels.

The report's author Professor Michael Cant said, "There is a core of around 25 vehicles that park there overnight, so it only takes 12 cars in the morning and the car park is over the 37-car capacity proposed by the scheme. That usually happens by about 9.30 am. Every car that arrives after that point would be unable to find a parking space under the scheme."

Professor Cant said that the huge number of displaced vehicles is the result of high turnover in the car park. "Even if it looks like the number of cars present is about the same for several hours at a time, in fact, cars are arriving and leaving all the time, so that 30 or 40 cars would be displaced over the course of the day."

"Local business owners have tried to raise the alarm about the impacts of the loss of parking. This survey shows that these impacts are likely to be even more devastating than these business owners currently realise."

Cornwall Council Planning Committee is due to vote on the plans on Monday 24th October. Prof Cant's report and aerial survey is available to view on the Penryn Town Council website here : Microsoft Word - Cant Vehicle displacement report text for upload to PTC.docx (penryn-tc.gov.uk)