Thursday 19 December 2013

Cornwall Council withdraws another service.


Tucked away in my briefing notes this week was a letter for information from the Highway Network Manager, the information being passed on was that in future the Highways Department would not be carrying out general weed treatment i.e. spraying with herbicide.

That’s the normally a pair of workers who you see about spraying the area between the road and pavement stopping the weeds growing in this area.

Now in the grand scheme of things, this may not seem that important, but if you just think about it, uncontrolled weeds lining every urban roadside, I fancy not the most pleasant sight.

If anything is guaranteed to insure an area looks rundown, uncared for, desolate that is going to be it.

Cornwall Council, go on to say if any Town or Parish Council wish to take on this service they can, but at the Town Councils own cost.

Currently some Towns do this work on an agency agreement with Cornwall Council who pay them £160.61 per km. these agreements will also end.

I do not know how many kilometres of urban streets there are in Penzance town councils area, but I am sure it’s a lot.

£160.61 per km at first glance seems a lot, but I’m sure that when Cornwall Council signed these agreements they did the sums and paid less than it was costing them. Taking on extra staff, training (have to be qualified to work within the highway), vehicles, risk assessments etc. I can see that this will not be a cheap operation. 

If Town & Parish councils want to take this work on or contract it out, and which wouldn’t, the money to pay for it has to come from somewhere.


Town & Parish councils are not awash with money, as more and more services are discontinued by Cornwall Council, whatever happened to ‘economy of scale’ on which Cornwall Council was formed, money available to do the things that people enjoy rather than just need will be eaten into, in Penzance budgets for the likes of Christmas Lights, Golowan, Art Gallery & Museum and many other events that make our town what it is, will be impacted upon and life a little sadder for it.




Wednesday 27 November 2013

More Parking Shenanigans at Cornwall Council


Whilst searching for something else on Cornwall Councils Website, I came across this little nugget of information.

Cornwall Council will be trialling reduced car parking in several Council owned car parks over the next few months.

The move follows requests from local Cornwall Councillors in Bude, Launceston, Liskeard, Penzance and St Ives. The Cornwall Council car parks included in the trial are:

Bude – Summerleaze; £1 per day from Monday 16 December for about 3 months

Launceston – Castle Street, Cattle Market, Pannier Market, Walkhouse; £1 on Saturdays leading up to Christmas – 30 November, 7, 14 and 21 December

Liskeard – Rapsons; £1 per day from Monday 16 December for about three months

Penzance – St Erbyns; £1.90 per day from Friday 6 December for about three months

St Ives - £2 per day in all long stay car parks, £2 for three hours in short stay car parks from Monday 16 December for about three months


Ignoring that I hadn’t heard of this trial and so had very few others, it’s the rather interesting pricing structure that caught my eye, a North South divide we all know about, but Cornwall seems to have its own West East divide, twice as much to park in the West as in the East.

I also find the trial in Launceston an interesting one, a price reduction on Saturdays leading up to Christmas, speaking from a town that has just spent over £20,000 to achieve the same thing, what is the trial in Launceston trying to find out? Other than the fact that Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources is a Launceston councillor.


PS Who came up with £1.90 as a price? Even more change in the car, as I refuse to pay the £2 that most will be forced to pay.


Monday 21 October 2013

Council Chief Executives, Serial Job Changers



In any other walk of life when recruiting staff would you consider a serial job changer?

The answer I think is properly no, you want staff to be loyal, grow into the company, see their decisions come to fruition, especially with a Chief Executive you would want them to plan for the long term and be there when those plans need updating, refining. You need stability at the top a clear vision, not constant change, reorganisation, new thinking.

Then why is it that in the world of Council Chief Executives does it appear to be full of serial job changers? People who inside 18 months to two years feel the need to move on? 

Council Chief Executives, should be non-political, the constant that the staff of the council look to as political control of the council changes, but even that political control is unlikely to change inside of four years between elections. 

Politics can move at quite a pace at times, but the underling infrastructure does not and many plans evolve and develop over quite substantial time periods i.e. Cornwall Local Plan, 2/3 years and still ongoing.

I know very little of the likely new chief executive of Cornwall Council other then the fact that he has been in his current job with Cardiff City Council for less than 18 months and the same in his previous job. Some decisions he made at both these previous jobs are most likely still to run there course.

The fact that he also received a big payout (£144.000) on leaving his previous post, I also find not only wrong but also indefensible. If this is considered the norm for these posts, then it’s time this is challenged, no payments for leaving the job inside, what 5 years, and a sliding scale for repayment of relocation expenses.

The costs in this constant churning of Chief Executives is very high for local councils and really must be brought to an end.   

Much has been made of his salary, but I fancy it is these add-ons that we need to know about, the relocation expenses, the payout should he leave, expenses etc. 

UPDATE

Well here we are Nov 2015 and true to form he's gone, on to pastures new. I wrote in the post above that 'I knew very little about the new chief executive' and less than two years latter I still know nothing about him. This time I know even less about the new chief exec other than this time it's a female from the home counties, I did read her name somewhere, Kate something I think, but it hardly seems worth the effort of finding out. I will update this again in what 18 months at the most I suspect.






Saturday 12 October 2013

'Gulval to be consumed by Penzance Housing'


Today I was forwarded an e-mail from a colleague concerning yet another development being planned in Penzance & Gulval, as you can read below officers at Cornwall Council already think that enough consultation has taken place and that their plans are already in the public domain.

Not that public I fancy as no one I have spoken to has even heard of them.

So what are we talking about?

The land at Ponsandane is being seriously considered as being suitable for a housing estate and that Cornwall Planners have already conducted talks with developers to deliver a first phase of 100+ houses over the next few years. With further phases, to be developed at a later date.

This plot of land was protected in the original local plan as being the important green wedge of a high landscape value and preventing the coalescence of the village of Gulval into Penzance. At the consultation stage Penzance town council opposed development on this land, and a few years ago the planning inspectorate refused an appeal for just six houses on the land at Ponsandane because of the adverse visual impact and the fact that the B3312 formed a natural village boundary.








So why the Council  planners should now think it is appropriate to build on this site is beyond me, whilst I can appreciate that planning policy can become out of date, there is no way that a policy protecting an area for its important visual importance and role in separating the two communities of Gulval and Penzance can become irrelevant (Policy TV-2 of the local plan). 

Certainly this is not something they should decide for themselves; this is something the community should decide.   

The planning officer at Cornwall Council leading this plan has been approached regarding this development, Dave Slatter (Planning Officer, Cornwall Council, Camborne – whom I have been told has been going about the council offices rubbing his hands in glee at a development that as far as he is concerned is ‘in the bag’). Dave Slatter’s reply is as follows:

You are correct we have been in contact with the **********’ as landowners as we have been with other landowners whose sites have been identified as potential housing opportunities within the draft town framework.
The town frame is one of a number of frameworks that are being developed and used to ultimately inform an Allocations Plan for the emerging new Local Plan.
The potential for the site’s allocation has been in the public domain for some time now when it was identified within the Penzance options paper was published for public consultation in January 2012 as part of the West Penwith Community Network Area Discussion Paper.

This can still be downloaded by clicking on the West Penwith link on this page http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=32791.

The sites that were included in the plan were arrived at by using a robust Urban Assessment Methodology that examined the land around the existing urban area in order to discount the least sustainable land from further consideration. This approach was used consistently across all the towns considered and because of the sustainable development approach taken often resulted in challenging existing policies or even past decisions.

The assessment documents for Penzance were made available at the same time as the public consultation and can still downloaded fromhttp://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=30171
Since the publication of the Community Network Area paper the target housing numbers within the Local plan have changed and are likely to change again. We have been examining the original options in more detail, including speaking to landowners (some did not want their land considered further), in order ascertain which options are not only the most sustainable but also viable and capable of delivery, this work is ongoing.

We are hoping to consult on the Allocations document next year however that does not stop developers from pursuing their own initiative including submitting planning applications if they chose to do so. In these circumstances we make them aware they are progressing at risk from a local policy perspective and strongly recommend they engage with the local community.

I have huge reservations about the methodology used to undertake the sustainability appraisal anyway, which I wont go into now, and I do not believe the SA done for the Penzance sites could be considered to be sound as it is subjective, inconsistent and not backed up by a strong evidence base (particularly in regards to environment and landscape issues). 

Regardless of this I believe it is extremely arrogant of the planners to think they can get housing development in this site through the backdoor so to speak without fully consulting the community on whether or not this land is still considered to be the important green wedge which deserves special protection. 

I think it is vitally important for the local community in Gulval  (and also the wider neighbourhood) to be made aware of these plans, and also the plans for all development in and around the Gulval area, 

I have been told that the old pig fields by the School have already been cleared for development, and I would like to know how many houses are planned for that site and also what percentage are affordable. 

It surely is for the people in Gulval to decide what is important to them, not the planners.

Below is a map showing the planned development area.






From this you can see that the darker green areas are the phases in which the planners are expecting to develop, this site i.e. the whole of the site facing the approach to Penzance will be covered with housing except for the two fields which surround the telecom mast.   

It is highly important that local people are involved in any decision making at the earliest stages,  whilst the land at Ponsandane can at this moment still only be considered as an exception site, planning policy at the national scale still means that development in such types of sites should only be taken forward if they are deemed acceptable by the local community (and the only way for that to be known and understood is if the general public are made aware and consulted on, and that the Town & Parish Councils agree it will be needed).






Friday 11 October 2013

Penzance Farmers Market



This afternoon was the AGM of Penzance Farmers Market.  I am very happy to announce that I was voted in to be Chairman for the coming year.

Over the past 5 years, the Penzance Farmer Market has grown into a successful market with its regular Friday Morning Market in front of St Johns Hall, Penzance.

Over the coming year the Market will be facing a number of important issues, the major one being the refurbishment of St John’s Hall in Penzance.

Currently the Market operates in the forecourt of St John’s Hall in clement weather, moving into the Hall itself if the weather is inclement.

From March of next year, the Market will be operating outside in all weathers, not in the forecourt, but alongside the forecourt in the lower part of the car park. This will continue through until October, from October through the winter we have to find a suitable indoor venue, this is something that we are currently investigating.

The good news is that the market is continuing to grow and we are looking at obtaining funding to increase the number of stalls available for stallholders and increased storage space for them.  


To our current customers a big thank you and we will be still trading throughout the redevelopment at St John’s Hall, returning to the forecourt once its complete, and for those who are yet to find us come along on a Friday morning for great local produce.




Tuesday 24 September 2013

Buses, Penwith and Cornwall Council

Having just read the statement on the Western Greyhound website http://www.westerngreyhound.com./  

‘Notice was given by Cornwall Council officers on a number of routes at the end of July and we were also given a list of proposed bus service cuts by Cornwall Council. Those proposals affected almost the entire Western Greyhound operation in “Penwith” rendering the very small remaining operation unsustainable.’

This decision made by officers at Cornwall Council, with no consultation, no contact with transport groups or Town Councils in West Cornwall shows a level of arrogance that is hard to believe or maybe not?

Still no statement from those officers as to why they think West Cornwall does not require a full bus service, how this decision was made, any alternatives they are considering.

I do know that our local County Councillors are meeting with the officers and transport groups, but this still has the feel of all too late, once again, a decision has been made by officers, and then consultation begins.  

Now it is no secret that I am not a great fan of Cornwall Council and some of its officers and the way the West of the County is considered and treated by them.

This has come about not because I don't want to work with them to improve Penzance, it’s because so many of the decisions made by them are made without the benefit of local opinion, until it’s too late for those opinions to be considered. Or we are given options that are no option.


Sadly, all too often, this is the order in which things happen at Cornwall Council, and they wonder why they get a bad press and anger people.



Thursday 5 September 2013

Retail Park in 'Hayle'


I read with interest the article in this weeks Cornishman (5th Sept) regarding the proposed retail development in ‘Hayle’. The first thing that comes to mind is that the development is no more in Hayle than I am, it’s a development alongside the A30, adding to the retail park that is already there.

There has been much written about the impact of the Sainsbury Supermarket being built on the edge of Penzance and the impact this will have on the town centre, I fancy that will be as nothing to the impact this proposed development will have, not only on Penzance but on the whole of the West of Cornwall.

This will be out of town shopping on a scale unknown in this part of the world. A further 11  major retail units adding to the 4 major units already on the site will have a huge impact on the whole area.

However, as the development is nominally in ‘Hayle’ no one in Penzance, St Ives and other towns in the area will be consulted, no mitigation will be forthcoming, and I am sure no consideration will be given to the wider impact of this development.

The developer and Mayor of Hayle  both state this development will be good for Hayle, I can't see how, no one is going to travel to this development on the A30 and then say, oh while we're here let’s pop into Hayle, it doesn't happen now and it’s not going to happen in the future.  



Wednesday 7 August 2013

Coinagehall Street redevelopment in Penzance



This morning I went to a meeting with the developers of the Old Vospers Garage (Coinagehall Street) site in Penzance, the meeting had been scheduled for sometime, and was a follow up to the public consultation held some 8 months ago. The main part of the site is publicly owned and has been a key site for development for a long time.

The development is being undertaken by a private company with private money, with the developer being the preferred bidder when Cornwall Council looked for interest in the site.

There have been some major changes in the plan since the public consultation, with the developers taking onboard many of the comments made at that consultation. The development will incorporate a 70 bedroom hotel, 50 flats and 7 retail/restaurant outlets, around a central open space. There will be parking for 94 cars under the building.  

Whilst I will wait for a full planning application before passing my own comments on the plans, they appear to be going in the right direction, on this very important site for redevelopment within Penzance.

Or I should say were, for the development to go ahead in its current form the developers would have to purchase 3 sites in private hands to bring the full development in. As is often the case the owners of these sites are keen to get the best price they can, pushing the developer to a price that cannot be justified, in these cases, a Compulsory Purchase Order can be made, and that looks to be the situation here. 

To that end a recommendation was put to the informal meeting of Cornwall Cabinet members yesterday morning, with officers recommending approval, at this point the cabinet turned down the development, not just the application for a CPO, citing the change to the streetscape of Coinagehall Street as the reason. I’m lead to believe that the cabinet was unanimous in this decision. That is it the end of this development.

Now I’ve been around politics long enough to know this seems very strange, for a start ‘unanimous’ against officers recommendation, if all ten were there, I would have expected 1 or 2 in favour at the very least.


Now I’ve only heard one side of a story and will try to find out the other. However, if what I’ve heard is a true reflection of the situation, then someone has been very busy briefing the Cabinet, against this major Penzance development, at County Hall. 


Friday 28 June 2013

Planning Applications. Damned Again


Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece on a Planning Application for change of use from a retail shop to a take away. Read ‘Damned if you do Damned if you don't’ here

A bit like buses immediately along comes another one, (this of course does not apply in Cornwall, where the first bus would not arrive).

Again, this is for a change of use Retail to Fast Food Takeaway, this time located in Causewayhead. We also have a little more information it is to be a ‘Greek Fast Food Takeaway’ I think that means a Kebab Shop.

The Planning Committee will face the same issues as to the previous application. Anyone want to be a councillor on the planning committee?


One other application may be of interest, again a change of use, this time from a former fish stores to a two screen cinema, café, bar and accommodation in Newlyn Coombe, just across the road from the Meadery.

I went to an open day put on by the applicant a few weeks ago; it seems a very interesting development.
I don't think there was one person who did not mention where do you park?




Thursday 13 June 2013

Damned if you do damned if you don’t.

This evening (13 June 2013) there is a meeting of the Penzance Town Council Planning Committee, this will be the second meeting of that committee since the elections, of the 10 members on the committee, 5 are new members, some of whom were very critical of the Town Council planning committee before being elected, regarding development and retail shops within the town.

Tonight the members have an interesting application to consider.

No PA13/02516  

Applicant: Mr P. Jemmett, 3 Hanover Square, London

Change of use from A1 to A5 (Retail to Takeaway) 1-2 Market Jew Street.

At first glance not too much to worry about, just a change of use, not even the full planning application.

Things the committee will have to consider:

Loss of retail space on the main street, 1-2 Market Jew Street use to be Curry’s Digital.

Bringing an empty shop back in to use.

Number of Takeaways already in the town centre. Is this one different? Hard to tell, as the application does not say what type of takeaway it’s to be. This application is only for change of use, the applicants address is a branch of Citibank.

If the committee decide not to object, they will be accused of:
Letting the town centre go to rack and ruin.
Letting too many takeaways open in the town.
Destroying the town centre.
Selling out to big business.
Turning the town centre into a clone town.

If the committee decide to object, they will be accused of:  
Letting the town centre go to rack and ruin.
Failing to encourage business.
Not caring about the town centre.
Destroying the town centre.
Not encouraging a big business into the town.

As the saying goes, damned if you do damned if you don’t.




Friday 7 June 2013

Even more good news

Even more good news.

Mrs Pz01, who was in town (Penzance) this morning noticed that Sorcha Cubitt Beauty had opened today, at the bottom of Causewayhead. Following on from my Blog from Tuesday about two other independents, one expanding and one opening in Penzance, this can only be even more good news for independent traders in Penzance and another good reason to visit.

I know Sorcha and am very pleased to see her return to the centre of town and wish her well.


Tuesday 4 June 2013

A little bit of good news

A little bit of good news, I popped into town yesterday (Penzance), Mrs Pz01 is on holidays so retail all the way.

 I was pleased to see that Lou’s Shoes in Causewayhead have moved. For those who don't know, Lou’s Shoes were based about halfway up Causewayhead, in what must have been the smallest shoe shop in the world, not anymore, they have taken over the old ETS shop at the bottom of Causewayhead and yesterday was opening day, it was full.

Great to see an independent trader prepared, and with the confidence, to expand in these difficult times. I wish them the very best.

Also I see that Olivers Photographic have opened in Market Jew Street, another independent willing to give it a go, again I wish them the very best.  

Just one more thing, I saw this as I made my way up Causewayhead and it just tickled my fancy.




Monday 3 June 2013

Newlyn Railings. The right solution.

Nearly a year ago I wrote about some replacement railings that Cornwall Council planned to install in Newlyn.  Here……

On Friday, I received an e-mail from the contractor stating that following my intervention they had carried out discussions with local environmental groups and councillors, and that they now had a large amount of information and useful input, including images of railings historically used in Newlyn.  These have been invaluable in helping to select a more suitable railing system.







Not only are the proposed railings more suitable for the location, but they are manufactured locally.  This will ensure that they are both readily available if damaged, and, are fabricated using local Cornish labour.

The new railings will look something like the ones pictured below, from the same manufacturer. Although, the photograph shows a three rail system it does gives a good idea of the appearance. The proposed system for Newlyn will only have two rails with the lower rail being closer to mid-height.




I would like to thank the contractor and Cornwall Council for listening to the people of Newlyn and working to a solution that achieves the highways requirement, but also retains the historic appearance in this area of Newlyn.


Saturday 25 May 2013

Conservative controlled Penzance Town Council

I wrote a blog soon after the elections, on the political make up of the new town council, (here).

I stated that looking at the list of those elected and the parties they represent at first glance no Conservatives had been elected, when in fact in the 10 independents there were at least 3.

I was wrong; it would appear that there are at least 4 and very possibly 5, if I'm correct, then the Conservatives make up a quarter of the council. This makes them the equal largest group on the Council, with the remaining independents, but not one of them stood for council under their true colours.

Moreover, boy have they been busy, getting themselves voted in as Chairman of two of the committee’s, one vice chair and deputy mayor.

Normally politics does not play a big part on town and  parish councils, certainly that has been the case on Penzance Town Council, this always changes once the Tory’s get a few members, one way or another, they become very controlling.


Tuesday 21 May 2013

Penlee Quarry


Last week (15th May 2013) I was asked if I would write a piece for the Cornishman newspaper regarding the revived proposals for the development of Penlee Quarry, headlined in the paper last week, with the paper proposing to publish a piece both in favour and against. Knowing how people on social media like to be ahead of the game, I publish below the full text of my piece below.


As a ward member for Newlyn & Mousehole on Penzance Town Council, the Marina plans for the quarry in Newlyn that are again in the news, will I fancy be a issue over the coming years. The question is am I in favour, after some thought the answer is a guarded yes, guarded because as yet I have not seen the plans and no planning permission has been applied for. In principle I am in favour, I can remember when the idea first came to the town council what must be over 8 years ago and I was then in principle also in favour.

I have lived in Newlyn long enough to remember the quarry as a working quarry, with lorries rolling though Newlyn and white quarry dust covering everything on the road between Newlyn and Mousehole. The up side being the numbers employed, I would like to see a return of that employment, to that end, I think this could be the most important development in the area for decades.

In the early stages of the development there will be the employment generated by the building phases and as long as the workers for this are employed from the local area, where possible, as was part of the contract for the Olympic park, then this phase alone will bring a lot of work to the area over many years.

The one thing that Mounts Bay lacks is a true marina and the benefits that one would bring to Penzance and Newlyn are manifold. Yachting has been likened to ‘ripping up twenty pound notes in a cold shower’ and I would like to see those notes spent here, sailing boats bring a lot of jobs, real jobs, boat repair, electricians, sail repair, mechanics, riggers the list is endless. On top of this is an even longer list of secondary jobs in shops new and old, restaurants, hotels etc.

Marinas are themselves tourist attractions drawing visitors to an area. Mounts Bay is one of the finest sailing areas in the UK but walking along the prom on a summer’s afternoon the one thing you are unlikely to see are the sails of a fleet of yachts in the Bay as the facilities are not available in the Bay to support them.

Development in Penzance and Newlyn is constrained by the geographical layout of the towns so it makes sense to use what is available and there is nothing more brownfield than a quarry.

I also realise that the development faces areas that it must overcome before the go ahead is given, the major issue of concern I’m sure will be that of traffic, but I do believe this can be overcome. Others will complain about the housing to be built, second homes, in comers etc, the way that many people holiday has changed, we must also change to accommodate that, the building of what I thing will become a almost purpose built holiday village could be the way forward. 


Sunday 5 May 2013

The New Penzance Town Council



Well that’s it then, the people have spoken, the votes have been counted, Penzance Town Council has its councillors for the next 4 years.

Of the 20 councillors who make up the Town Council 8 are new to the job replacing 6 who stood down at this election and 2 who lost their seats.

Although in the past the political make up of the council has never been a factor in decision making, the make up of this council is quite interesting being a bit like Noah’s Ark we have 2 Liberal Democrats, 2 A Future For Penzance, 2 Greens, 2 Labour, 2 Mebyon Kernow and 10 Independents, what no conservatives you may ask? Trust me there’s at least 3 in there.

Of the 8 new councillors I really only know 2 of them, with a nodding acquaintance with 2 of the others. None as far as I can tell have ever held political office before.

I have read all the leaflets and the Facebook pages of those candidates that have them and sadly some are in for a bit of a shock when they actually get down to the work of being a town councillor.

Town Councils have limited amounts of money and even more limited resources, we are not free to do what we want or even what the Town may need, sadly a lot of our time over the past few years has been spent trying to get Cornwall Council to do the right thing and this has been getting increasingly harder as budget cuts bite ever further into spending.

Planning, is probably the area new councillors have the biggest problem getting to grips with, but fundamentally if there is not a ‘Planning Reason’ for objection you can’t object, well you can but it wont get you anywhere.

All in all I'm looking forward to working with the new councillors who will I'm sure bring new ideas to the council, I just hope that their enthusiasm does not get smothered by the rules and regulations within which we do have to work and of which so many people are blissfully unaware.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Penzance its future.


Does Penzance turn down development?

I have read much on social media and in the press claiming that Cornwall Council doesn’t care about Penzance and why is there no development going on in Penzance,  The reply most often heard is that Penzance turns every thing down. Just looking at the recent past this is obviously not the case,

Application to build Hotel, retail outlets and office space at old Gas Works Site.  PzTc in favour.

Application to build Supermarket at Eastern Green. PzTc in favour.
(There is no such thing as a planning application to close a business i.e. The Heliport, that is a commercial decision for the owner. As to the supermarket there are no planning grounds on which to refuse the application)

Application to build 60 retirement flats at Old Gas works Site. Not in Favour.

Application to build Route Partnership Harbour scheme. Not in Favour.
Alternative Harbour schemes. PzTc in favour.

Re-development of Truro & Penwith College. PzTc in favour.

Re-development of St Johns Hall. PzTc in favour.

Skateboard Parks at the Rec. PzTc in favour. At Wherrytown (own scheme) PzTc in favour.


With the exception of the 60 Retirement flats also opposed by Cornwall Council, Penzance Town Council has not opposed any large housing scheme in Penzance.

Alexandra Road, Ocean Blue, Lescudjack Heights etc.

If you believe that the Town Council turned down M&S please read Urban Myth Here.

As can be seen from the above it’s actually a bit of a mixed bag, tending more to development than against, so why are more developments not coming forward. Rather that the presumption that Penzance likes to say no, I think that’s more to do with the fact that Cornwall Council and developers don’t know what Penzance is or wants to be.

From Cornwall Councils point of view, it’s a big town, in the far West that can not be pigeonholed.

If you look at other large towns in Cornwall it’s easy to see what they are and possibly where they are going.

Truro, it’s the administration centre, the courts are based here, offices. Retail. Cornwall Council.
Falmouth, it’s the Docks, University, Boats & Sailing.
Bodmin, mid-Cornwall, distribution.
Newquay, tourism.
Redruth, Pool & Camborne. Manufacturing, industry, offices.

A little simplistic I know but these are the core activities taking place in these towns.

That leaves two large towns St Austell and Penzance both facing similar issues and problems.  Both are suffering from a decline in the core businesses that helped them grow, in St Austell it’s the decline in the China Clay industry, in Penzance its more complex.

Penzance was a large Market Town providing services to the far west of the county, it had the courts, Penwith district council, Hospital, HMRC offices, The Cornishman was printed here, sea & helicopter link to Scilly, Newlyn had the fishing, quarry, Mousehole had fishing and tourism.

But sadly many of these activities have now gone and the rest are much reduced. With the loss of these core activities, the secondary activities of the town also come under pressure with the courts gone there is no requirement for the solicitors and court staff, P.D.C has now become a One Stop Shop and staff levels have fallen from 450 to 190 with this number to be reduced further, West Cornwall Hospital is a shell of its former self, without these jobs the number of people needing the town centre has declined leading to the closure of shops and those business servicing them.

So what is the future for Penzance, it has much to offer, it has a very strong Arts & Culture industry, it is still the principle retail centre for West Cornwall with two streets of independent retailers any town should be proud to have in Causewayhead and Chapel Street. It has three leading public Art Galleries, a Public Park and Garden in the centre of town.
A further presumption is that towns such as Falmouth have overtaken Penzance in retail space, this is not true as can be read here.
Its cafes restaurants and night time economy are strong. It has a large modern College. Its location, architecture and (dare I say it) climate are all extras.

So what are the problems and solutions?

First I think it’s the message, its has to be one message from the same hymn sheet, facts over perceptions.
The town is open, it does want to take part, it is forward looking, it is a great place to be. It has to put out a positive message, not the constant knocking from some quarters, just read some of the election leaflets going around town. 

It must look to the new industries that it can serve and encourage those it has, it is ideally placed to be a centre for design, it needs to encourage and develop its leisure sailing and maritime industries, and by this I don’t mean a bit of a fiddle with the existing harbour, which in truth is too small for its current use, why not push for a brand new Harbour arm doubling the size of the harbour. Support the development of the Quarry into a new harbour space. Look at the positive elements of the town and promote those, think cup half full not half empty.

Does Penzance have problems? Yes it does, can it solve these? Yes it can, the biggest asset the town has is the people who live here, the vast majority of people here are positive, so stop knocking it, promote the Town, shop in its shops and look to the future.


Tuesday 26 March 2013

S.A.R Privatisation


Privatisation is not some thing I am generally in favour of and is an area that I would not normally write about but some of the comments and reporting about the privatisation of the UK’s Search and Rescue helicopters is so badly informed and sensationalist I felt I would add my two pence.

It is an area I have a little knowledge of, having served in the Fleet Air Arm and worked in the aviation side of the oil industry for nearly twenty years. This post also has a relevance to the helicopter service that use to operate from Penzance.

The main driver for the privatisation of the Search and Rescue helicopters are the helicopters themselves, since the early 1970’s the helicopter used for S.A.R work by the military in the UK has been the Sea King, the S61 that flew to the I.O.S was the civil version, the Sea King was also throughout the 70’s 80’s and 90’s the helicopter used by the military for a large part of its helicopter flying, but sadly the days of the Sea King are coming to an end, most of the airframes themselves are nearly 40 years old and any one who owns an old car knows how much they cost to maintain.

As the Sea King leaves service and is replaced by the Merlin (that’s the one at the end of Sky Fall) the crews are retrained in flying and maintaining these new aircraft, but there is no S.A.R variant of this aircraft, so if the military wished to continue with the SAR role it would be forced to purchase a helicopter type just for this role, then air and ground crew would have to be trained to work on this type but military personnel are moved to new postings every few years, so you would be trapped in a constant training cycle, as both air and ground crews have to be licensed for each aircraft type they work on. This is not really a practical solution.

Bristows, who have won the contract to supply S.A.R services are very experienced in this type of work, between 1971 (even before the S.A.R came to Culdrose) and 2007 Bristows flew SAR helicopters on contract to H.M Coastguard in 2007 this contract was awarded to a Canadian company. It will surprise many that Bristows also trains all military helicopter pilots and SAR crews. Alan Bristow who founded the company was a Fleet Air Arm pilot himself.

The new service will use Sikorsky S-92 and the AgustaWestland AW189 helicopter, these are very modern and there capabilities far exceeds the old Sea Kings, flying further and faster.  

I'm very sorry to see the old Sea Kings go, they where a big part of my working life but cold logic tells me that this is the only practical way forward.

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Penzance Harbour Where are we now.

What is happening to plans for Penzance Harbour? You may well ask.
Penzance Town Council took on the job of trying to bring forward a plan for the harbour after the failure of the Route Partnership scheme promoted by Cornwall Council. This is not a job that a town council would normally take on but with the support of the DfT the town council along with others worked up a scheme that had a broad consensus, met the funding criteria, met the time scale required for funding, this scheme was then submitted to Cornwall Council who would have to take it forward from here as the Harbour & Transport Authority and what did Cornwall Council do? They used every delaying tactic they could to ensure the whole scheme missed the funding timetable.         
On Friday 8 March 2013,
The Mayor, Town Clerk, Councillor Pender and the Project Consultant attended, at the request of Cornwall Council, a meeting regarding Cornwall Council's draft Business Plan requested by DfT in respect of Penzance Harbour. Also at the meeting were representatives from DCLG Convergence Programme, Cornwall Council, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, the Duchy and Consultants employed by Cornwall Council to draw up the Business Plan on their behalf.
Along with detailed plans for the Harbour at St Marys, works for Penzance were discussed.
These works put forward by Cornwall Council are as follows,
•         A Capital dredge to 1.65m below chart datum to allow not only the Scillonian
           but potential replacement vessels to operate at 2 hours either side of high tide.
•         A study into 3 options surrounding Rock Armouring of the South Pier these being
1.              No rock armour
2.              Partial rock armour; and
3.              Continuous rock armour
•     Highway improvements to include a pull-in lay-by for coaches.

The Penzance Town Council representatives strongly advised that the proposals for rock armour were those arising from Cornwall Council alone and reiterated their previous decision that an engineering justification would need to be forthcoming before any further position could be taken by the Town Council. Cornwall Council advised that the Minister for Transport would be making any final decision on the need for rock armour.
The Penzance Town Council delegation expressed their disappointment that their fully worked up and widely consulted scheme was not being taken forward.
Cornwall Councils view on this was that they were taking forward a scheme that would protect the viability of the link within the funding envelope from Convergence funding.
Given this response, the Town Council delegation requested a commitment from Cornwall Council to implement their scheme incrementally when new funding was available from Europe.
This draft Business Plan is currently with DfT for feedback and comment and any developments will be reported to the Town Council in the future.

Update: 27th April
Cornwall Council have so far failed to submit its Business Plan to DfT, again missing a deadline and thus delaying further any development.

Update: 30th May
Cornwall Council have now released their draft Business Plan as submitted to DfT, the full document running to over 300 pages, unfortunately the links to this document, supplied by Cornwall Council are currently not working, the Key message document can be read here....... St Mary's & Penzance Harbour proposals - key messages - Cornwall Council - Revision 2 - May 2013

Update: 17th June
On Monday Penzance Town Council held a Special meeting  to discuss the Town Councils response to Penzance Harbour plans put forward by Cornwall Council. The recommendation put to the council is that laid out below.
Response to Cornwall Council’s submission to the Department for Transport in respect of the Isles of Scilly Link.

It was Recommended that:

  1. Penzance Town council fully supports the development of the proposals at St Mary’s Harbour.
  1. Penzance Town council fully supports the Capital Dredge of Penzance Harbour as proposed by Cornwall Council.
  1. Penzance Town Council supports the initial highways improvements as proposed by Cornwall Council.
  1. Penzance Town Council would not object to limited protection of the South/Lighthouse pier if proposed by Cornwall Council and should the Minister of Transport deem the works operationally essential. Any such should not jeopardise the future development of the harbour specifically the placement of a breakwater.
  1. Penzance Town Council does not support full Rock Armouring of the South/Lighthouse pair.
  1. Penzance Town Council welcomes the opportunity presented to it by Cornwall Council to continue to work together on the development of the Harbour and specifically improved passenger and freight handling facilities.
Six recommendations for the Council to consider, well no, only one, as the Mayor acting as Chairman stated it was a single recommendation. There was no vote on this, and councillors were told they would be able to speak only once.

I think it reasonable to assume that most people would not object to No’s 1, 2, 3 or 6. But what about No’s 4 and 5?

I think it is wrong to lump a group of recommendations together, forcing councillors to vote against something they are in favour of, if they are opposed to something else in the recommendation.

There was a limited debate all concerning Rock Amour.

I am against rock armouring, full or limited, as, so far, I have seen no engineering justification for it, the latest report on the Harbour commissioned by Cornwall Council, also doubts its value. Recommendation 4 hands the decision to Cornwall Council (It was they who proposed Rock Armor in the first place) and so takes it out of the Towns hands.

Even limited Rock armour will stop any maintenance in the areas of the pier against which rock armour has been placed, or add to the cost of that maintenance massively. Rock Armour is also without doubt the ugliest solution. 
Sadly I could not vote for this recommendation, even though in favour of all the recommendations except Number 4. The recommendation was passed.

   

St Johns Hall Penzance


There has been a lot written over the past week about Cornwall Councils £5.6 million investment in St Johns Hall in Penzance.

With headlines in the Cornishman veering from “Is £5.6m on hall a sensible spend?” to “Council Services and Iconic Building saved.

Now from the start I will state that I’m very pleased that money is being spent on St Johns Hall, it is an important building in Penzance and Grade 2 listed and has been much neglected for many years. The West Wing that has been owned by The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall being in a very poor condition.

The acoustics in the main concert hall are so bad that many groups will not appear there thus further undermining the viability of the Hall.

 It’s the spin that’s being put on this so called investment that really gets me down, Cornwall Council do nothing for nothing and as far as I know the building was not under ‘threat’ so probably did not need saving, some work yes, saving no.

 To get this ‘investment’ Cornwall Council will be selling its site at St Clare (the old Penwith Offices), York House a grade 2 listed building, the Library and the Registry Office.

The spin is that that offices are only worth £2m and require a lot of work and are ‘inefficient’ and so will be sold, but of course they will not be sold as a suite of offices requiring work, but as a development site along with York House that is also on the site, which will probably be converted into flats. The whole site is marked as a development site in the Cornwall Local Plan.

Cornwall Council can sell off these offices as over the past 4 years the staff numbers at St Clare have dropped from 450 to 190 with Cornwall Council transferring staff and jobs to offices in Camborne and Truro with many jobs also lost. This has ripped the heart out of the old offices, the remaining staff have to be housed somewhere and its cheaper to do this in a building you already own and will be required to do work to in the near future anyway.

But the old Penwith site is not just the offices on the site, it’s the site itself and it’s big and was last valued at £11m for Penwith District Council,
Add into this the value of the Registry Office, a large Georgian House with its own parking in the centre of the town, more flats?  The Library in Morrab Road will also be sold, there is already a buyer for this site, the building last valued at £1m, is being sold for £100,000 as there is a backlog of repairs. In addition there are all the other associated costs being saved, the selling off of 3 sites and moving all operations to one you already own brings considerable savings.

Add this altogether and I fancy it comes to a fair bit more than £5.6m, so I am  pleased that St Johns Hall is to be refurbished, but please don’t try to tell me you are doing it out of the goodness of your heart or as proof of investment in Penzance.

PS. Cornwall Council also wish to sell the Town Council Office, across the road and have the Town Council move into St Johns Hall, something I’m personally against, not wishing the Town Council and County to be even more connected in peoples minds. 

Thursday 14 March 2013

Shock, I've not been a Councillor for South Ward for the past 10 Years.


I’ve just got back from Town where I had gone to do a few jobs, whilst there I popped into the Town Council Office, which lead to a bit of a shock (not good in my condition, no I’m not pregnant).

In the office are the candidate packs for the upcoming town and parish elections and talking to the staff I discovered that I’m not a South Ward Councillor for Penzance Town Council.

Now before everyone rushes off to read the various website postings to see what I allegedly have voted for or against, (funny how so many seem to think they know what I said or didn’t say all without the benefit of ever going to a meeting), over the past 14 years in the hope of getting the decision overturned, I’m still a councillor only not for South Ward, as much to the surprise of the office staff and I’m sure councillors, South Ward changed its name over 10 years ago. I’ve been a councillor for the Newlyn & Mousehole Ward.

As a councillor I will be honest some things slip past my attention, not much and never anything of importance, but you would have thought I might have noticed that my ward had changed its name? All my paperwork still arrives with South Ward printed on it, Cornwall Council refers to it as South Ward, the maps refer to it as South Ward only its not. Back in 2002 in a consultation it was decided to change its name, so there we are.

Now the more serious reason for this post, from the election papers the Town council have received we have discovered that some changes have taken place, that genuinely no one knew about, Newlyn & Mousehole Ward (South Ward) has had its number of councillors cut from 5 to 4, and this is the very first anyone had heard of it and its not just this ward, Promenade Ward has an increase of 1 as does Central Ward with the East Ward  also losing 1 but Gulval Ward which has had a boundary change doubling the number of people in the ward remains with only 1 councillor. These changes are apparently the result of the Boundary Commission report, at no time was the Town Council ever consulted or any contact made with the council during the preparation of this report, no contact from the Commission or Cornwall Council what so ever. I wonder how many other Town & Parish councils got a surprise when they received the Election Packs.

PS I didn’t pick up a pack. 

Sunday 3 February 2013

A Letter to Dave


Hi Dave,

Had a nice chat with the chaps in the club the other night, thought I would bring you up to speed about the hols this year. You are going down to Rock this year aren't you? Spose you can’t do the Maldives with the newspapers watching.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag of news really, don’t know how you are going down, but the train may not be such a good idea this year, they are going to cut the number of trains from London by a third down to six from nine, mind you should still be a bit of room in 1st. Watch out if there’s a bit of rain about, the line keeps ’falling in the water’  Lol.

If you decide to take the old Chelsea Tractor down, top tip, fill her up before you leave, can you believe the spivs down there are charging £1.43 £1.49 for the diesel. Still should be able to get there a bit quicker soon, can you chase them up on that road thing, any chance of a bit of Motorway, wouldn't mind if it’s a Toll thing, keeps the plebs off, give us a shout on who’s going to get the contract, get a few shares, win, win. Lol.

Bit of really good news, that woman that comes in to do, don’t know her name, lived in that really nice cottage with her disabled son, the only one with the flowers in the garden,  family been there for years, they've had to move out, something about an extra bedroom only used twice a week so the carer could stay over and can you believe it the local council want her to pay more Council Tax, can you believe the cheek of these local Johnnies, oh yeh you may be able to help here, can you believe these local Johnnies  are going to build lots of houses, a few are called ‘affordable’ now we don’t want any of that on our patch, anyway had a chat with the guys at a meeting on Tuesday in the new job, by the way thanks for putting in a word for me, can’t believe they asked me to leave the last one, just for letting a few mates buy those shares just before you gave the company that contract, thanks for that tip by the way. Still the new job’s great just 2 days a month and loads of money and info, will let you know (wink, wink), anyway where was I, oh yes asked the boys and they said that they could ‘afford’ any of the places that they would want, so there you are, but if these local Johnnies, I think they are your lot, want to build any over our way can you have a word with the planning chaps.

Nicks, had a bit of luck over in St Ives, got himself a parking spot, can you believe it only £55k, says we can borrow it if we pop over that way, he only uses it for a few weekends.

Any news on a ‘Waitrose’ yet?

Well that’s about all for now, don’t work to hard, see you in the summer, is the Met Office one of yours? Have a word, LOL.

Keep the money rolling in.

Yours

Rupert.

Ps Stephen’s managed to buy the empty cottage, so he will be down this year.

Tuesday 29 January 2013

The work of a Parish Councillor


I've read a lot over the past few weeks about encouraging more people to stand to become Councillors and it makes interesting reading.

Cornwall Council have just held an event for people wishing to become Cornwall Councillors and a few people have written about the event. Here’s one Robs Cornish Blog.

Penzance Town Council has also held two events recently to encourage people to stand.

As reflected in Rob’s Blog there is a lot of interests in councillor allowances and you only have to read some of the comments on Social Media sites to get the impression that a lot of people think.

‘ all councillors are only in it for the allowances,  the free food and what they can get out of it’

In fact, certainly at the Parish Council level nothing could be further from the truth.

I have said this before and will say it again Parish Councillors (In general) do not get an allowance, and certainly not on Penzance Town Council. Limited expenses are available, in 14 years I'm unaware of any councillor claiming them. So in the 14 years as a councillor I have received £0 for my work as a councillor.

We do not get free lunches and the only thing we get out of it is the satisfaction of doing something for the community in which we live.

At Penzance Town Council we do not have, tea, coffee or biscuits at meetings, the last time I had a ‘free lunch’ was from a development company/Cornwall Council at a all day consultation, which was open to all, you only had to turn up at 9:30 and be there until 4:30 to get your free sandwich and cup of tea.

As a Parish council we have no statutory duty to do anything, with the delivery of all services the duty of the principle council, in our case Cornwall Council.
We are only consultees on planning issues (often very late in the day), with our comments only taken into consideration.
Anyone who thinks we can stop or conversely start planning applications is very much mistaken.

Penzance Town Council meetings work on a cycle of 6 weeks, in that the 4 standing committees, General Purposes, Finance, Penlee House & Park meet every 6 weeks, with the Planning Committee meeting every 3 weeks, at the end of this cycle there is a full Town Council Meeting, in addition we can also have Special Town Council meetings as required to discuss single issues of urgency. All these meeting are open to the public, why not come along and see what we really do. A list of meetings is published here…

As a councillor you sit on two of the standing committees of your choice, so an average councillor would be expected to attend 3 meetings every 6 weeks, it’s these meetings which make up our attendance record.

But only a few councillors are average, we also have working groups, small groups of councillors who meet, very often with groups and individuals from outside the council, to organise or progress town projects.

Let me give you an example:

Penzance Christmas Lights Switch On and Market

This was an initiative brought to the town council by me two years ago, to create an event around the Lights Switch On, we had a small sum of money from the Christmas Lights budget.

The working group for this consisted of two town councillors, me and Cllr Jan Ruhrmund with a member of staff from the Town Council doing the admin.
Also invited to join the group where:
Brenda Lemon : Penzance Farmers Market.
Penzance Chamber of Commerce.
The Cornishman
Causewayhead Traders Association
Wharthside Shopping Centre
Andy Hazlehurst : Golowan
Rotary Club

This group met 6 times on the build up to the event, discussing what could and couldn't be done, how we were going to organize what was required.
On the day Cllr Ruhrmund and I were in attendance for the whole day to ensure that everything ran smoothly.

Other working groups of councillors meet to deliver less obvious projects around the town.

In addition to the above Councillors are asked to become the Town Councils representative on numerous other groups/organisations in the area, attending their meetings, assisting them to progress their ideas and reporting back to the council on the work of these groups.

From the above you can see that being a Town Councillor can be quite busy, but also very satisfying, in fact all we are is a group of unpaid volunteers but unlike most people who join a community group, say the Rotary Club, every four years we can be asked to leave, mostly by people who have no idea of what you do.







Tuesday 15 January 2013

Penzance Retail Space


Sat at home last night in front of the computer, after a couple of meetings, a photograph of a document was posted on Twitter by @Tweet_Bus, for which I thank him. The document caused a little comment and some deal of surprise. 

The document has been produced for the group opposing the huge development planned at Coyte Farm, St Austell, @StopCoyteFarm .

What the document shows is the Total Occupied Retail Floorspace of major towns in Cornwall; this is then broken down into ‘Convenience Goods’ and ‘Comparison Goods’.

Convenience Goods are defined as ‘These are widely distributed and relatively inexpensive goods which are purchased frequently and with minimum of effort, such as petrol, newspapers, and most grocery items.’ To most people the stuff you tend to buy at a Supermarket regularly.

Comparison Goods are defined as 'non perishable' goods for retail sale which are often stocked in a wide range of sizes, styles, colours and qualities, including furniture, carpets, televisions, clothing etc.’

The surprise for many perhaps is that Penzance has the second largest amount of retail space in Cornwall, only Truro has more.

It should also be noted that on the list of Convenience Goods retail space Penzance comes forth (4) beaten by Truro, Newquay and Camborne and by some margin, so even with the soon to be built Sainsbury’s supermarket, Penzance will not move up this list.


For Comparison Goods, Penzance easily comes second, only beaten by Truro.


Interesting reading and a set of numbers I've not seen before.




Saturday 12 January 2013

Chapel Street, Penzance


I’ve written in the past about Causwayhead in Penzance (Here) and what a great shopping street it is, full of independent shops, its now the turn of Chapel Street in Penzance, what brought this on is the publication this week of its own guide ‘Historic Chapel Street’ and what a great guide it is.




Within it details the 39 yes, 39 Specialist Shops and Services it has to offer as well as a small section on Exploring the street and its many Historic Buildings, also a simple map, so a big well done to the Chapel Street traders for this fine publication.



I’m pleased to say that just before Christmas I brought a book from one of these Independent shops, written by a local author and published locally, now that really is shopping local.



Sunday 6 January 2013

Newlyn



The Town Council has now returned the renovated bench to its home at the bottom of Trewarveneth Street. Along with the benches alongside the War Memorial the council has now repaired all the benches in Newlyn requiring work, the town clerk and I took a trip around the village just before Christmas to identify any others requiring work and are pleased to say all the others looked ok. Although the benches in fact are the responsibility of Cornwall Council the Town felt that it would be quicker if we carried out the work and this was done in house by our handyman. If you know of any others requiring work please let me know. 





In the past few days a row of bollards have appeared alongside the War Memorial and Seamen’s Mission on a road under the control of the Harbour Commissioners, replacing the traffic cones that had been bolted to the ground a few months ago in the same location. I know what the Commissioners are trying to achieve, stopping cars parking here, but I'm not sure a row of bollards next to a row of bollards is the way forward.