The points you make are very interesting and, like you, I feel the project is being pushed through with some ulterior motive. As yet we have had no definite indication as to where this development will be, and one suggestion of opposite the new school will result in parents and children dashing across the road amongst the busy traffic.

We have no guarantee that the number of properties will be limited to 16 and there is no guarantee that a further tranche will not be put in the following year.

The rental properties will come under the jurisdiction of the Housing Association and will come under their control. Not, as we are led to believe, under local control.

Councillor Burden pointed out at a recent meeting that the development in Venterdon was put in to satisfy a supposed need, and when the properties could not be filled, residents were imported from as far as Bodmin.

With the present anti-social problems in Callington, it is natural the people should want to come to a relatively trouble free village, but there is a delicate balance between a tight friendly, close knit community with the occasional problem and a swollen population where the problems seem to be prevalent. We have already experienced several anti-social problems, the most recent involving youths from Callington at our sports club, presumably driven out of Callington by the CCTV.

There is very little employment in the area and all the new residents will add to the present traffic problems as they commute to work on our narrow, at times, single lane roads. There have been a number of accidents over the last year or two and the situation is getting worse. There are no pavements along our roads, and it is getting extremely hazardous for pedestrians walking along them.
The local schools are turning children away as they are full, and even the local medical practice is now refusing to take any more patients.

As I see it, this committee, all of whom live outside the village are bent on the destruction of our village. It was suggested to me that these houses should be scattered throughout the surrounding hamlets, so spreading the loading on the roads and saving the fragile environment. This might help provided the residents have easy access to the main roads.

The sewage facilities are at or near full capacity and with the Duchy College intending to increase its numbers by a further 450 next year; this will further exacerbate the problem.

The criteria for the new residents has not been fixed even though a list has already been started. We hear of home owners wishing to sell up and move into the village, despite the statement that they are starter homes to enable people to get on the property ladder.
Before anything goes further, the residents of the village should be consulted, and their feelings considered rather than having the opinions of the outlying hamlets being thrust on them. This is, after all, our village!

There will be a survey coming out and it is up to all of us to make sure everyone in the village is aware of the implications. This is something that must be carefully considered and discussed with neighbours and others and not left to lie on the shelf or just thrown away. It affects everyone.