A PERMISSION in principle (PiP) proposal has been made to build homes on the site of a previously controversial bid for residential development.

Proposals by developer Stephens and Stephens to build eight three-storey townhouses, with a parking storey beneath, on land at a former quarry on the entrance to Malpas, near Truro, were refused in 2023 and then dismissed on appeal in February this year.

Now, a new developer, Clairdew Ltd, wants to build up to three homes on the same site between Malpas Road and Bar Meadows in the riverside village on the outskirts of the city.

A supporting statement says: “The application seeks to establish the suitability of the site for small-scale residential development in principle, with all detailed matters reserved for consideration at the technical details stage.

“The application site comprises a long-established brownfield area, historically associated with quarrying and fuel storage activities, and currently occupied by redundant industrial structures.

“In February 2025, the Planning Inspectorate dismissed an appeal relating to a previous proposal for eight dwellings on the wider quarry site. Importantly, the inspector did not object to the principle of residential development on the site; rather, the appeal was dismissed due to concerns regarding scale, massing, density and landscape impact arising from the specific scheme presented.

“This PiP application has been prepared in direct response to the findings of the appeal and the local planning authority’s recent decision to approve a PiP for a single dwelling on an adjoining site.”

For more details see planning application PA25/09443 on Cornwall Council’s online planning portal.