RESIDENTS of St Erth will plead with councillors at a planning meeting today to think again about council plans for a £10 million transport hub and 750 parking spaces in the west Cornwall village.

Villagers still breathing a sigh of relief after the withdrawal of plans to relocate the Isles of Scilly helicopter service there are now facing a new fight to stop the Cornwall Council proposal.

The transport hub is designed to create a park and ride scheme based around St Erth railway station.

It would involve building three car parks and a total of 750 car parking spaces in a village of around 1,400 people that already boasts a waste transfer and recycling site and a 20 acre sewage station.

Cornwall Council says the plans would be the basis for a park and ride scheme serving St Ives and Penzance, reducing the road traffic to both and getting more people onto trains.

The authority says it has already carried out a traffic survey and other studies to ensure the plan is feasible.

If approved the scheme could open in early 2014.

Villagers say many of them are in favour of investing in the railway station.

But a meeting of the St Erth Residents Association on Monday night saw a number of fears raised which two SERA members will take to councillors at today's strategic planning meeting in Truro.

While opinions are mixed on whether installing traffic lights on a main arterial route into west Penwith will create gridlock – a fear the council insist is unfounded – there was unanimous concern at plans to site two of the three car parks south of the St Erth railway bridge.

The 'south' and 'west' car parks will not only be sited on agricultural land but will also be accessed via a road that goes under the Penzance to London mainline.

The road under the bridge is on a bend and is so narrow it has an "oncoming vehicles in the middle of the road" warning sign.

Villagers say they have done their own survey and more than 300 lorries already travel under the bridge each day to the recycling plant and sewage station without an added influx of car traffic.

Derek Tilby said: "I don't think anyone is against the station improvements or better use of the car park there. But why do they need 750 car parking spaces? We're not against tourism and we're not against park and ride per se. We all see a need for progress and change but it has to be tempered with some common sense. And that road [under the bridge] is never going to get any better.

"We have three minutes to try to make our point to councillors on the planning committee.

"But one of the biggest issues is that this is a Cornwall Council application being approved by Cornwall Council officers and being voted on by Cornwall Councillors. A lot of people have said this should be decided by an independent planning inquiry."

Villager Cheryl Macleod added: "We're not saying the station does not need improvement. Many people in the village think the junction [onto the A30] needs improving. And some people are in favour of the traffic lights, although I am not.

"But this proposal is not right because of the road under the bridge and it is wrong that it is being determined by Cornwall Council."

The scheme will be considered by councillors today with a final decision expected on February 21.