Cornwall planning: Fears that family's Cornish holiday home will lead to cliff collapse

A family's plans to rebuild their holiday home overlooking a Cornish seaside village have led to fears that it could cause a cliff collapse. A Cornwall Council planning meeting heard this week that the development would be in an area plagued by cliff slides and could put "the entire community at risk".

Alice Henry applied to replace a cabin, Donkeys Halt, her family has used for getaways for the past 70 years at Donkey Lane on the cliffs at Portwrinkle near Torpoint. Now in a dilapidated state, Mrs Henry and her husband want to rebuild the cabin as a two-bedroom holiday chalet, which they will also let out.

The area's Cornwall Councillor, Kate Ewert, brought the matter before a meeting of the council's east area planning committee on Monday, June 10, due to concerns over the effect on the stability of the cliff, height and massing of the replacement building and the possibility of it detracting from the cultural and historic importance of the neighbouring 200-year-old coastguard cottages.

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The meeting heard that a previous application was withdrawn by the applicant in 2022 due to concerns about cliff stability, size and the effect on a retaining wall between the chalet and the cottages. The site is within an area of great landscape value and a conservation area, its garden is also within a coastal vulnerability zone (CVZ) and it's adjacent to a site of special scientific interest.

Council planners recommended the application was approved, stating that with regard to coastal erosion and land stability, an originally proposed soakaway located in the garden area and CVZ had been removed. The Coastal Protection Authority had been consulted and did not object subject to conditions.

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Rosemary Kent, who said there had been no neighbourhood consultation despite claims in the planning documents, spoke on behalf of neighbouring residents at the meeting in Bodmin. She said: "We collectively wish to object to the proposal due to overdevelopment," adding that the new chalet would be over 40 per cent larger in volume and would see a "substantial increase in ground loading at a fragile location, perilously close to the coastguard cottages' retaining wall".

"Any further collapse will leave a neighbouring property landlocked and have a disastrous effect on Donkey Lane, the main access route to all properties. The council erected a fence a metre south of Donkeys Halt after an earlier landslip and had to relocate the South West Coast Path. By acknowledging the cliff's frailty, it would seem negligent to allow this development so close to the cliff edge.

"Only 200 metres away a very recent slip has reduced car park capacity and is threatening to compromise the only other road into the village," she told councillors.

Steve Medway, chair of Sheviock Parish Council, said despite acknowledging there is a need to redevelop the chalet, his council objected to the original application on the grounds of overdevelopment. "In 2011 Sheviock Parish Council had our concerns regarding cliff stability overruled by the planning committee concerning a café application, which has now had to fence off some of its seating area because it has disappeared down to the beach below.

"More cracks are appearing close to the caff and the fenced off area will soon need to be increased as there is very real danger to customers. Maybe this time the views of those of us who know and live in the area will be heard."

The applicant, Alice Henry, then addressed the meeting telling members that her family have been using the cabin since the 1950s, with her and her siblings visiting Portwrinkle for over 40 years. Their children continue the family tradition of "spending good quality time" there. She said the cabin's state is beyond repair and structurally unsafe, so they want to "futureproof" Donkey Halt with a well-built, sympathetically designed cabin that will be unobtrusive.

"Our family want to remain part of the community - in recent years we've had numerous offers from developers but our love of Donkey Halt and the memories we've made are priceless." She said her and her husband would like to retire to the cabin.

Mrs Henry said the family had now modified the plans accordingly and had worked with mining consultants to ensure the development is sustainable and safe, which had also been approved by Cornwall Council's own coastal protection officer.

Local member Cllr Kate Ewert then aired her concerns, telling the committee: "You will see how close to the edge of the cliff this site is. The cliff in Portwrinkle is really precarious and we're seeing more and more cliff slips along that small stretch than anywhere else in my division ... and I have a lot in my division.

"Just to the west of the site there was a significant collapse a few years ago leaving the landscape looking like a huge bite has been taken out of it. To the east, the cliff has recently collapsed meaning that a large section of the car park is now cordoned off." She said there was now only the thinnest of paths to a neighbouring property, The Nook.

"My fear is that with substantial works involved with this build, the cliff stability will be further eroded risking at best The Nook's access and at worst the structure of the cliffs underneath The Nook and Donkeys Halt. We should not be approving a project of this size in such a vulnerable area."

Cllr Ewert said it was currently no more than a wooden hut and as such she was not against the principle of development, but she believed that anything replacing it should be more in keeping, being light in structure and low in the setting.

"Donkeys Lane is the emergency access for the village. By overloading the cliffs here it puts the entire community at risk," she added.

Cllr Andrew Long said that while he understood the comments of the divisional member and parish council, he found it very difficult in planning law to find any reason to refuse the application especially as the council's own coastal protection officer supported it. Following discussion, the committee voted to approve the development by nine votes for and two against.