A MASSIVE £40 million development that would "dwarf" the villages of Chacewater and Blackwater has moved a step closer to reality.

Carrick's planning committee voted 9-6 in favour of a proposal to build a 27-acre food processing and distribution centre in the countryside between Chacewater and Scorrier.

The controversial "Food Park" would accommodate up to 50 small and medium businesses, create 300 jobs and help the local farming economy, according to Hallenbeagle Estates, the company behind the scheme.

But the proposal has outraged residents in the area, who insist that there are more suitable sites for the scheme, and say it would be out of scale with local villages.

Since last autumn, when the Packet revealed the proposal, they have been doing everything within their power to block it - even paying for a 25-minute professional video to demonstrate how the development would impact on the local countryside.

At the planning meeting on Wednesday, around 50 local people attended at Carrick's chambers to hear the decision, including representatives from the Hallenbeagle Action Group, which was set up to fight the scheme.

But they were horrified when three Carrick members - including John Carley, the member for Chacewater - were denied a vote after they declared an interest in the project.

Diane Sexton, a member of the action group, said locals were further dismayed by the apparent lack of willingness on behalf of some members to even discuss the scheme.

She said: "Those who voted in favour of the scheme did not seem interested in having a debate. They just wanted to get it over and done with."

Mrs Sexton added that locals now feel like none of their elected representatives are fighting their corner.