Cornish village divided over suppport for local company...

March 11, 2011 - PRLog -- A group of unhappy residents from the village of Mullion near Helston, have joined forces to start a support group for a thriving tourism based company, who want to expand and develop, but cannot due to local opposition standing in their way.

In March 2010, owners of Mullion Meadows, Martin and Pauline Raftery were granted planning permission for a 2 story office at Mullion Meadows Craft Centre for the development and growth of their self-catering holiday letting company; Cornish Cottages Ltd.
After the planning permission was granted, a small group of local objectors to the building discovered there was a right of way under the old barn that the new building was replacing. Although it has been impossible to walk that right of way for over 50 years, the local objectors are using this as a reason to stop the building work from progressing.

‘Friends of Mullion Meadows’ is a support group that has been created by local residents  (now totalling 425 people) to raise awareness of the good impact and support that Mullion Meadows Craft Centre brings to the village; in addition to highlighting the amount of jobs, money and investments the craft centre generates for the Cornish economy.

With the support of Cornwall Council, Martin and Pauline have applied last July to divert the footpath away from the building, turning the commonly walked path down through the copse into the definitive footpath. This is the path that most people have walked for the last 10 years or more and has been maintained and improved at Martin and Pauline’s own expense.

Unfortunately Mullion Parish Council at their January meeting voted 8 to 2 against the diversion, hence giving more credence to the objectors.

The objections to the footpath diversion have prevented building work continuing over the last six months and has directly resulted in employment opportunities for local people being lost.

A representative from ‘Friends of Mullion Meadows’ said; “We find it a shame that Mullion Meadows cannot continue with their new building due to a public footpath issue.  To see the partly constructed building left flapping in the wind not only spoils the look of the Meadows, but is holding back the expansion of Cornish Cottages and a new fledging business ready to move into the old office. Additional jobs have been lost because of this delay which cannot be acceptable in these difficult financial times. There are eight small businesses at the Meadows giving employment to over thirty people. For a village the size of Mullion we should all be very pleased and proud of the centre and support it in whatever way we can”.

Martin and Pauline said “If a solution cannot be found to this footpath issue and we are unable to finish the new office, we will have to look at moving ‘The Meadows’ to a new location away from Mullion.

The next Parish Council meeting is on Tuesday 15th March at 6-45pm in the Methodist Hall  and it is hoped that many ‘Friends of Mullion Meadows’ will attend.

# # #

Friends of Mullion Meadows is a support group that has been created by local residents to raise awareness of the good impackt and support that Mullion Meadows Craft Centre brings to the village.