Land west of Hen House, Goonbell, St Agnes, Cornwall, TR5 0PL

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• whether the Land is a suitable location for residential development having regard to local and national planning policies in respect of the provision of housing in the open countryside
• the effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area, with particular regard to the effect on the Outstanding Universal Value of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site
• the effect of the development on biodiversity, with particular regard to whether the development provides suitable mitigation for impacts on the integrity of the Penhale Dunes and the Fal and Helford Special Areas for Conservation

What decided it

The restriction of the residential use to holiday accommodation only, controlled by condition, brought the development into compliance with LP Policy 5 (tourism) and rendered it a sustainable form of rural tourism development that outweighed the conflicts with countryside housing policies.

The benefits of sustainable rural tourism accommodation, economic benefits to the local area, and the small scale and unobtrusive nature of the development outweighed the conflicts with LP Policies 3 and 7 on countryside housing location, particularly given the holiday-only restriction and compliance with LP Policy 5.