Councillors in Falmouth have supported plans to build 35 apartments at Middlepoint on Pendennis headland despite one councillor describing them as "oil tanks with windows."

At a meeting of the town's planning committee on Monday, councillors voted to support the application as a good option for a brownfield site on contaminated land.

Councillor Rowenna Brock said: "It's a brownfield site, albeit resembling a green field. The old tanks are going to represent an issue."

She described it as a "reasonably sensitive scheme", with benefits in the form of cash from the developers to improve Falmouth, which the council had been told would include £150,000 to £200,000 for open space projects.

Councillor Steve Gray said the former industrial site needed to be decontaminated and he "can't see anyone else doing it unless they are making money out of it."

Committee chairman Grenville Chappel said: "It looks like a pile of old oil tanks with windows drawn on, revolting." However, he supported the scheme and admitted that the colour of the apartments would help them blend into the area.

Councillor Oliver Cramp asked if it would be better for the design to be "a bit more of a credit to the town and a bit more modern looking," but Councillor Vicky Eva said she thought it was "quite sympathetic," and would blend in from the sea, while it would not really be visible from the road.

She added: "We've got to move with the times and keep up with new trends."

The application from Middlepoint Developments, a de Savary family company, includes 35 homes in seven blocks, and a reception in an eighth block with leisure facilities including a swimming pool and tennis court. The plans include underground parking, and a new sea wall, as well as removing contaminated oil tanks which are a source of hydrocarbon contamination of the Carrick Roads

Although there will be no new affordable housing on site, an estimated £800,000 has been promised, equivalent to a 40 per cent affordable housing contribution.

A public consultation was considered a success by the developers, and the online plans have received only one objection.

Chris Kirck wrote on the planning website that he believed hydrocarbon seepage from the tanks could have decreased with time, and that he was concerned about the risk to residents posed by nearby gas storage tanks.

He added: " The proposed apartment complex which juts out into the Carrick Roads just above sea level is likely to be the first building one notices when approaching Falmouth. The impact of Pendennis Castle and other historic buildings will be lost."

Cornwall Council's determination deadline for the application is Monday, February 1.