Cornwall Council says there are no immediate plans to increase the number of homes to be built on the Langarth Garden Village development outside Truro.

The council is leading on the project after developments, which have planning permission for around 2,700 homes, stalled.

It is hoping to bring together the various planning permissions across a number of separate sites with a masterplan to form the garden village.

Planning permission exists for not just the new homes but also for schools, health centres, shops, hotels, care homes and open space. The Langarth area sites are around the existing park-and-ride as well as the site for the Stadium for Cornwall.

But there were concerns that the council was also looking to increase the number of homes to 4,000 after that figure was included in the bid for funding for the Northern Access Road which will serve the development.

Linda Taylor, leader of the Conservative group at Cornwall Council, asked questions about the figures at a meeting of the council’s Cabinet yesterday.

She was also concerned about letters which she said had been sent out to landowners around the Langarth area regarding surveys of their land.

In response Bob Egerton, Cabinet member for economy and planning, said that there were no current plans to build 4,000 homes.

He said: “I will try to clarify whether it is 2,700 or is it 4,000. What people have got to accept with these figures is it is not a question of when you get a figure that means that next week you are going to go out and build that number of houses then you are going to stop and never build anymore.

“In reality the 2,700 is the extent of the planning permission that were given, roughly, as some of the figures were not precise. But it was never envisaged that they would all be built by the end of the local plan period (2030) anyway.

“The 4,000 was a figure tied in with the bid to Government for the funding for the Northern Access Road when we got £47million from the Government. That doesn’t mean we have made any commitment for 4,000 to be built but the road will have the capacity in the long run if necessary that it could accommodate 4,000 homes. But there are no plans in place for those 4,000 homes.

“We are working on the masterplan for Langarth and we have got enough to do in trying to deliver a reasonable number of houses over the plan period.

“We are not going to get 2,700 by 2030 and 4,000 could be some time in the very distant future in the next plan period and will be subject to all the planning permissions.

“It just means that the road will be in place and with this development plan for the next 25 years they could be accommodated within that infrastructure.

“What we don’t want to do is build a new road and then in 10 years time go back to Government and say actually we need to expand the road.”

He added: “We are working on the masterplan for Langarth and we are hoping to bring something forward as soon as possible. We need to get on with it and you shouldn’t get upset with what it might be in 2040 or 2045.”

In response to the question about letters being sent to landowners Cllr Egerton said it was to get landowners involved in the masterplan work and said it was “good practice”.

He said: “We can’t just ignore them and then they phone us up afterwards and say, ‘why didn’t you involve us? We could have facilitated something’.

“It is good practice, it is not making any commitment to buy any land or do anything but to see what is their interest and what is going to happen with this site.”