A £400 million development on the edge of Truro has been held up because of a failure to reach an agreement between Cornwall Council and the development company.
Developers Inox were granted outline planning permission last May to build 1,500 homes, a care home, a primary school and an extension to the park and ride at Langarth near Threemilestone.
But one year on the developers are still waiting for full planning consent and have announced they intend to file an appeal based on non-determination unless the matter is resolved within a month.
The failure to reach an agreement - based on the costs of the road infrastructure – could also threaten plans for a stadium on land next to the development site.
Rob Saltmarsh, managing director of Exeter-based Inox Group, said: "We welcomed the Council's intent to deliver our estate road from the outset of the project, as it is commercially attractive in terms of development cashflow. However, the Council now requires Inox to enter into an 'open cheque book' arrangement, whereby we will have no control over the future cost, alignment or specification of the road."
The planned road would go from the Langarth estate to the Royal Cornwall Hospital site at Treliske. Inox said Cornwall Council was trying to impose additional obligations that were not approved by the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) when granting permission.
Mr Saltmarsh said: "It would be financial suicide to allow the Council total control over our development budget, without having the ability to reach agreement on costs before works start.
"It is of great concern that eleventh hour interventions risk subverting the resolution of the SPC, and threaten to stifle major private sector investment and job creation within Cornwall."
David Seaton of PCL Planning Ltd, lead consultant for the project, added: "The matter is so fundamental that unless the Council sticks to the terms of its resolution the only way the project can proceed is via an appeal."
Inox said the appeal process could end up costing taxpayers in Cornwall approximately £500,000 if it went in favour of the developers.
A spokesman for Cornwall Council said: "The wording for the legal agreement for all other matters is agreed and Officers are continuing to negotiate with Inox on this specific point with a view to avoiding a non determination appeal."
Inox said the delays associated with an appeal process could also jeopardise the future of the controversial Stadium for Cornwall, which involves the Cornish Pirates, Truro City Football Club and Truro and Penwith College, as the nearby mixed use development will deliver infrastructure such as roads and sewers that would also serve the stadium site.
Inox said the delays associated with an appeal process could also jeopardise the future of the controversial Stadium for Cornwall, which involves the Cornish Pirates, Truro City Football Club and Truro and Penwith College, as the nearby mixed use development will deliver infrastructure such as roads and sewers that would also serve the stadium site.
A spokesman for the Stadium 4 Cornwall group (S4C), said: "The S4C group are naturally concerned about further delays and the impact this may have on securing funding for the stadium and although the stadium is a separate application, the mixed use scheme does provide for a dual use of infrastructure to enable the stadium to proceed – something which the 18,000 signatories on our Petition have long wanted and waiting for."
