A Cornish builder has won a planning appeal to knock down a dangerous fire-damaged farmhouse and replace it with 32 new homes in an area desperate for housing.

A government-appointed inspector has agreed that Cornwall Council was wrong to refuse Kevin Penrose’s application.

Mr Penrose applied to demolish Church View Farmhouse on Church View Road, Camborne, and replace it with the homes, which would include seven affordable properties, together with access, estate roads and landscaping/biodiversity net gain.

However, a council planning committee refused the application last June on the grounds that the development would be  harmful to the character of the mining World Heritage Site in the nearby Tuckingmill area. Councillors made their decision after hearing Historic England’s concerns that the demolition of the damaged farmhouse would lead to the loss of “heritage assets”.

Russell Dodge, a planning consultant representing Mr Penrose, argued that the dangerous farmhouse was beyond repair and the construction of the new houses would help alleviate the housing crisis and provide much-needed affordable dwellings in Camborne. There were almost 1,400 households on the housing waiting list in the town at the last count.

Following planning inspector Shaun Harrington’s decision to approve the development, Mr Dodge, of Business Location Services, said: “The decision highlights why affordable housing, despite the so called housing crisis, is being delivered despite Cornwall Council and not because of it. This was a needless planning appeal which has delayed the delivery of affordable housing.”

In his appeal report, Mr Harrington said he considered the harm to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site and Tuckingmill & Roskear Conservation Area to be “less than substantial”.

He added: “The proposal would deliver a net increase of 31 energy efficient dwellings [the other house would replace the damaged farmhouse] close to a comprehensive range of services and facilities, in an area where the council has recognised a housing crisis and can no longer demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

“The proposal would also deliver seven affordable homes and a financial contribution equivalent to 0.75 of a unit in an area with a demonstrable need for affordable housing.”

He also noted that the farmhouse was now in an extremely derelict state, having suffered severe fire damage and has been uninhabitable for a number of years.

The inspector added: “My observations accord with the structural appraisal report, which considers that the farmhouse should now be classified as a ‘dangerous structure’ and it is not thought likely that any part of the original building is salvageable as a retained structure. No substantive evidence has been presented to me to allow me to arrive at a differing view.”