A row has broken out after a student house landlord was accused by angry residents of knocking down their boundary wall.

David Hemlock wanted to build a two-bedroom bungalow in the back garden of his HMO (House in multiple occupation) property to move into.

But residents of Ashfield Villas in Falmouth told a planning meeting, he had already demolished a wall at the end of their road to create a new driveway to his property.

They claimed he had replaced it with a metal gate to allow access - despite having no right to do so.

Originally a private road, residents say Ashfield Villas was adopted by county highways in March 1992. The small road ends at the boundary of the back garden of Mr Hemlock's property.

The lane leading up to the gate on Ashfield Villas (Image: Supplied by SWNS)

At the meeting of Falmouth Town Council's planning committee, they accused Mr Hemlock of incrementally taking down trees, removing part of the fence, putting up gates, and adding a no parking sign over the years.

His application for the new bungalow was recommended for refusal by the committee - but councillors said the boundary wall issue was a 'civil' matter for them.

Speaking on behalf of the residents, Melanie Brewer said the proposed entrance to the new building is not an established access and is not identified as such on the deeds of the property.

Melaine said: "The access proposed through Ashfield Villas which has been created over time by knocking down the wall of our turning point which has caused all sorts of conflict with workmen blocking the road, driveway, and turning space.

"In addition to this, the students walking through, banging gates causing increasing litter and damage to our vehicles as well as hostility shown towards the residents of Ashfield Road.

"The conflict at times has led to police involvement and these plans would allow that to escalate further."

She also made the point that an increase in vehicles on the road would be dangerous to residents and their children.

Melaine finally added that when the wall was originally knocked down, the owner told them he would rebuild it but it hadn't happened. While also explaining that if they were to rebuild the wall he had told them he would come and knock it down again.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Hemlock, his agent told the committee that the current property was an HMO with seven students.

He said the application was to build a small accessible bungalow for his client who has mobility issues and claimed the garden was not currently used apart from for drying clothes.

Adding that the development would formalise the parking at the front of the property to ensure there was room.

The agent said they could use the access off Ashfield Villas to form the driveway for two parking spaces for the bungalow and that it would improve parking for the surrounding houses as it would prevent others from parking in the turning head at the end of the road.

He told Cllr Jude Robinson that the access gate in Ashfield Villas had been there for around ten years.

Replying to chairman Cllr Steve Eva's question about the residents' claim that his client had said he would demolish the wall if it was rebuilt, he said the ownership of the wall was related to the boundary but wasn't an issue in terms of planning but was a civil issue.

He said the bungalow would be for the owner but he couldn't think of a restriction that would stop it from being used by students in the future.

The planning committee voted to recommend the refusal of the application for the third time as the development was an extension to a student property which would result in an HMO that contravenes the Neighbourhood Development Policy HMO1.