Plans to build four new homes in a village have been recommended for approval despite concerns about the impact on road safety.

Trevow Ltd has applied for permission to build the four homes – half of which will be affordable – at Goonbell, St Agnes.

The plans are set to go before Cornwall Council’s central sub-area planning committee this Monday and are recommended for approval.

However planning permission will only be granted if a legal agreement is secured for the affordable homes to be provided.

Previous planning applications to build on the site have been refused as they did not comply with housing policies, by not having any affordable housing.

Now that affordable homes have been included in the plans the site is being considered as a 'rural exception' housing scheme.

Under the plans there would be one two-bedroom house, two three-bedroom homes and one four-bed.

But concerns have been raised locally about the access to the development and road safety.

St Agnes Parish Council has objected both on road safety grounds but also that members believed there would be visual harm and that local people had felt strongly about keeping the site clear in consultation on the area’s neighbourhood development plan.

The parish council would also like there to be more than 50 per cent affordable housing on the site.

On the road the parish council states: “While visibility to the right on exit has been somewhat improved by the ramp, and safety by the internal footpath, the parish council would still be concerned at the possibility of a small child walking on the road side of the bridge. Would it be possible to have appropriate signage directing pedestrians to walk on the internal footpath?

“Visibility to the left remains an issue, mainly because potentially obscuring vegetation is not on the applicant’s property. This is important as traffic approaching from the south east is often forced to the middle or wrong side of the road by parked vehicles on the far side.

"It is therefore an extremely hazardous site to exit, with potential traffic approaching on the wrong side of the road from the left while traffic may approach quickly from the right, potentially from four entries to the nearby junction - in effect, a quadruple junction.

"For an exiting vehicle driver to be able to see that the area behind the wall is clear, there has to be a significant height increase provided by the ramp.”

Cornwall councillor for the area Pete Mitchell has put forward similar views, saying: “The application fails to provide safe and satisfactory access to the site, with the proposed raised platform not fully mitigating concerns in relation to lines of sight to the right upon emergence.

"To the left the visibility splay is obstructed by the hedgerow and the impact could be heightened as a result of cars approaching the site from the south-east being forced onto the wrong side of the highway due to parked vehicles.

"Account is taken of the consistent objections to the development from highway officers since the original submission in 2016.”

The application will go to the central sub-area planning committee when it meets online on Monday.