Plans to relocate a new community building to the end of Mawnan's cricket field have been withdrawn following an outcry from the public that included a 229-signature petition of objection.

Mawnan Parish Council already has planning permission for a 'community hub' in Carwinion Road, near the village pre-school. This would include an office for the parish clerk, a small meeting room and toilets.

However, at the start of this month the council put in a second planning application, to re-site the building to the edge of the cricket outfield at Carwinion Playing Field, closer to the main entrance.

A public exhibition was held at the Methodist church, attended by 90 parishioners, with the plans receiving a mixed reaction.

A petition of objection signed by 229 people was subsequently handed to the council, the day before last Thursday's parish council at which the application was to be discussed.

In front of a packed room of onlookers, parish council chairman Malcolm Faiers summarised the feedback from the public exhibition before revealing that a new potential location for the clerk’s office had recently arisen, central to the village.

As such, the current planning application for the playing field would be withdrawn.

Speaking to the Packet afterwards, Mr Faiers said: "Fundamentally, we will not be building an office hut at this moment.

"There is a possibility of working with another set of people within the village, who would like us to help them.

"We may be able to build an office there, but it will go out to public consultation.

"That wasn't on the table with the original public consultation."

He added that the council had listened and was now looking to move forward.

Among the letters of application sent to the council was one from David Barnicoat, who said the building went against "the whole ethos of the original Carwinion Playing Field Constitution," which was for the facilities to be for recreation or other leisure time.

Mr Barnicoat wrote: "By allowing this building to be erected on the playing field, it is in my opinion a travesty.

"Village cricket and football pitches, play areas, village greens and ponds are quintessentially English by nature and as such should be preserved for future generations to enjoy their leisure pastimes in a peaceful ambience."

Mawnan parish councillor Rex Sadler, who had encouraged people to get involved in the consultation, said afterwards: "This was the largest attendance at a parish council meeting I have seen in my 40 plus years as a councillor.

"I thank all those people who came to the meeting to support the preservation of the open space at the recreation ground.

"What is there not to understand in the objectives of the constitution of Mawnan Recreation Ground Trust, which I had read at a trust meeting? All seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The parish council are the trustees, although they act as two separate bodies."

He said he had contacted Fields in Trust about the potential of having a Deed of Dedication put on Carwinion Playing Field, to protect it as an open space for the long term.