Council Tax

Its budget planning time up at Cornwall Council and once again cuts to services and facilities is the order of the day and once again there are calls for town and parish councils to take over some of these services and facilities, with some reports that Town and Parish councils could take over the running of up to £34m worth of services but is this a realistic possibility?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-29010865

There are 212 Town and Parish Councils in Cornwall and there is a lot of variation between them.

All Town and Parish councils get the vast amount of their funding the same way, the precept. When you get your council tax bill from Cornwall Council it’s made up of 3 elements, the largest is the money that goes to Cornwall Council, the next is the amount that goes to the Police, these are the same for every property in the same housing band across the county, the 3rd element and by far the smallest amount is the Town and Parish council Precept, this is the money that your Town or Parish Council has set in its budget to collect from every property in the parish so this amount varies depending on where you live.

That variation can be quite large with two councils in Cornwall collecting over £200, fifteen over £100, five collecting nothing and various amounts in-between, my own council Penzance Town Council collects £85.32 for a band D property, this is on the low side for the larger councils. 

The fact that this tax is raised on the number of properties in the parish and not people does bring up some interesting numbers: Newquay  population 19,900 has 6825 band D equivalent properties: Penzance population 21,200 has 6417 properties: Truro population 23,000 has 6139 properties. So Newquay with a population over 3,000 less than Truro raises its precept on nearly 700 more properties.

The total sum raised by this precept for 2014/15 by the 212 Town and Parish Councils in Cornwall is £13,598,097.90, in contrast Cornwall Council will raise £223.214m in council tax and a further £922.977m  in other tax and income.

So is it realistic for Town & Parish councils to take on and run up to £34m of services and facilities when their current total income is less than £14m? 

To do this would require a big hike in Town and Parish Council incomes but and it’s a huge but, not for all. The burden would fall mostly on the few large towns, there are 11 towns in Cornwall with populations over 10,000 (if you include Camborne/Pool/Redruth as CC does as one) and of these only 5 are over 20,000. It’s to this small group of towns and their residents that the largest burden will fall. 

There are 33 libraries in Cornwall pressure is already mounting on these towns to take them on.

For example: My own council, Penzance Town Council currently has a full time office staff of 4 and from our precept of £85.32 we raise just over £547,489, we also have income from 1 car park we own. From this income we run a Art Gallery & Museum, public park and playgrounds, skateboard park, town centre CCTV, 9 allotment fields, chapel of remembrance, Golowan Festival also support for other festivals and events, Christmas Lights, open air theatre. care and maintenance of a cemetery, care and maintenance of over 20 kilometres of public footpaths, we give financial support to other groups in the town, the list goes on.

In addition to this, we have in the past few years been asked to take on the public toilets in the town, replace the pavement/roadside weed spraying. The Jubilee Pool could also fall under the control of the town council in the near future. From this it can be seen that there is already a strain on the council's income, adding more to the list, much as the council may wish to take on these responsibilities it can only lead to one outcome, more council tax paid by the residents of the town.

In comparison the parish of Madron is just 2 miles from the centre of Penzance, the residents of this parish pay a precept of £40.09 raising just £19.600 from the 489 properties in the parish, little or any of this extra tax burden will fall on them. They will still benefit from access to the facilities that Penzance has to offer, but without the added tax burden, in fact Madron village is closer to the town centre than I am, this will be repeated across Cornwall big tax rises for those in the larger towns to pay for local facilities and services rather than the cost being spread across the whole and an ever widening gap in the tax costs of living in a larger town.

TOP TIP: - To cut your council tax bill move to a parish with St Michael in its name, St Michael Caerhays pays £0 parish precept, the same for St Michael’s Mount with St Michael Penkivel paying just £18.95 having gone down from last year.

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.

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.

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.

'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).

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.

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. 

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.

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.

2. Penzance Town council fully supports the Capital Dredge of Penzance Harbour as proposed by Cornwall Council.

3. Penzance Town Council supports the initial highways improvements as proposed by Cornwall Council.

4. 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.

5. Penzance Town Council does not support full Rock Armouring of the South/Lighthouse pair.

6. 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. 

Members Register of Interests

I have been quiet for the past few weeks due in part to internet problems, a major garden project, nearing completion I'm pleased to say and a bit of ill health.

But something has been troubling my mind over the past few weeks also, “Members Register of Interests”, doesn't sound to interesting does it, but I do know that it has been troubling a lot of councillors and locally at least two I know of have decided to resign over it, with a further one refusing to complete the form, so what’s going on?  

The background, as a councillor you have to complete a form detailing how you earn any money, who you work for, any land you own or have an interest in, companies you hold shares in, companies you control, all good stuff. This form is then filed away in the clerks’ office and is available to anyone who wishes to see it. I have never heard of a councillor having a problem with this and indeed you can’t serve as a councillor after an election until the form is complete.

But, and it’s a big but, the rules have changed, under the Localism Act, the form has to be completed as before but must also include the same details for your partner, this seems to be the area that has raised most concerns with other councillors and I can understand their position. 

This really does raise a few concerns for councillors, myself included, firstly the current Mrs Pz01 is not very happy about this, is not a elected member of a council and derives no benefit from my being a councillor, I should also point out neither do I, in 12 years for my work as a councillor I have received £0 in expenses and £0 in any other way, I did receive a small allowance for my two years as Mayor.

This information then has to be published on the Town or Parish website (if the Town or Parish have one) along with being published on the appropriate unitary authorities’ site (in my case Cornwall Councils).

This is the area that raises the most concerns for me, firstly the current Mrs Pz01’s employer is not very keen at all on employees detailing who they work for on the internet and due to the very nature of the job neither is Mrs Pz01, I have been told that her name can be removed if the monitoring officer agrees, all very well if your name is Richards or Smith perhaps but it doesn't work too well with ours.

No, it’s the very act of publishing this information on the internet that I have a problem with, I'm very careful as to what information I publish on the internet, having spent many years working in IT I'm very aware of the risks, once its on the internet it is available for any casual observer anywhere in the world to access this information, whereas in the past if you genuinely felt that I or any other councillor had broken the rules you had to make the effort to go to the office and ask for the information, thus dissuading the casual observer.

In the spirit of we are all in this together I thought that I would look up my MP’s register of interests, I suggest you give it a try and remember many Town & Parish councils are dealing with sums of money that are less than a single MP’s allowances and expenses.  

In conclusion will I be complying with this? The honest truth is I don’t know, I’m not very happy with the way council work in Cornwall is going at this moment, dealing with Cornwall Council is like mud wrestling a tank full of eels and I'm not sure I want to continue, this may well be the stone.

Town Centre Crisis & Car Parking

Living in Penzance as I do I consider myself very lucky, despite all the stories to the contrary, I believe that we still have a vibrant town centre, (for many years I was a town centre shop manager) yes, I know that there are empty shops, currently running at about 10%, but you have to be aware that in more normal times 5%-8% of shops would be empty, this in the trade is known as churn, and without it there would be no turn over, with no new shops opening. No opportunities for changes in use. 

So why has the number of shops closing in Penance stirred up so many headlines, new shops that have opened mostly being ignored, with the doom mongers claiming the town centre is in “crisis”, lists of closed shops proudly displayed in shop windows, cries for the council to do something. It should be borne in mind that the largest number of stores that have closed, so far, have been those that are part of national chains; these chains are being hit very hard by the many thousands that are being put out of work across the country as a whole, the true effects of this have not yet truly reached us, but I fancy soon will.

We do not have the large employers, where the laying off of hundreds from one factory has huge knock on effects, our future vitality is being undermined in a much less obvious way, jobs slowly being moved or lost, Penwith staff to Camborne, NHS staff to Treliske, Inland Revenue to Redruth, Remploy factory closing, death by a thousand cuts.

This summer, which seems to have started at last as I write this, will be the break point for many in our high streets; if the number of visitors coming to our towns fall significantly then we could very well have a true crisis. It is my belief that the one single factor that will influence the number visiting and the time they stay is car parking charges.

Car parking charges are in the control of the Tory led Cornwall Council, and what a cash cow they have found. In the year 2010 - 11 parking charges in Cornwall have raised Cornwall Council a surplus of £8,221,000. That’s a bit over £8 million and 2011 – 12 is set to be higher. To give some perspective to this, the Tory led Cornwall Council came seventh (7) on the list of 349 Authorities in England and Wales, only beaten by 6 London authorities and the city of Brighton & Hove, in the amount of surplus raised. West Devon is 210^th & Plymouth 215^th both raising a surplus of less than £500,000. Devon 283^rd raising £283,000. Figures are from an analysis of local authority accounts by the RAC Foundation.

So in one of the most rural areas of the country where a car is essential for most, where we have to attract visitors to our towns to survive, Cornwall Council with a policy of high parking charges is undermining every town centre and business in Cornwall.

So where is all this money being raised by Cornwall Council going?

Local authorities were warned by Mike Penning, the road safety minister, last year to stop treating motorists as an easy target to raise funds.

Town halls are supposed to use their powers to control parking to improve traffic flow and prevent gridlock on their streets.

They are prohibited from using these powers to bolster their income. 

Until Cornwall Council bring some sense to car parking charges, every town centre in Cornwall is under threat and then we will have a true crisis on our High Streets.

Later this year I will holiday in Brittany, two weeks, total cost of car parking £0.

Just some Railings

I’m not a member of the planning committee of Penzance Town Council so would normally leave the members of that committee to make decisions without the dubious benefit of my opinion. So what enticed me to walk the 5 miles into Penzance and back on a wet evening to attend a planning meeting?

Railings, that’s it a set of railings.

The town council received an email informing them that some railings  where to be  replaced in Newlyn (South Ward and my area) and that the plan was to install railings that matched some that had been replaced a little while ago, also that some narrowing of the carriageway was proposed .

Now you would think that this email would have been from Cornwall Council but you would be wrong, it was from the contractor, an international construction management organization, and it was the first we had heard about it. Very kind of the contractor to contact us, but what about Cornwall Council?

Well, you may be thinking its only some railings, what can be important about railings, as with most things its context, this part of Newlyn is a Conservation Area and the railings will run the entire length of the road alongside the harbour, this new set will run for approximately 200m joining up with the previous 200m of replaced railings, so in total nearly a quarter of a mile of railings, overlooking the harbour.

The earlier railings where installed with no consultation what so ever, leading to an outcry in the village, totally ignored by Cornwall Council, so what’s getting people upset.

Let’s start with the design of the railings, I have seen similar railings in Birmingham alongside the inner ring road, now I have no problem with Birmingham (well I do, but that’s another story) but this very urban environment alongside a dual carriageway is where these railing belong, not in Newlyn.

As stated before this part of Newlyn is within a conservation area, the road as it rises up overlooks the harbour affording views not only over Newlyn harbour but across the bay to Penzance and across to St Michael’s Mount, it’s also the main route for people making their way to Mousehole.

The railings already installed by Cornwall Council are very intrusive, right in your face and dominate the view, they are just not in keeping with the local landscape, the wrong materials for a maritime environment, urban in design in fact just wrong.

But perhaps even more importantly, Penzance is home to the world famous collection of Newlyn School paintings (Penlee House), people travel from far and wide to view these paintings and visit the sites where they where painted, and the harbour railings feature in many of these paintings, (Newlyn Fishwives, Old Newlyn Harbour etc). This is an area of great importance, its one of the things that brings visitors to the area, it’s our heritage so don’t go spoiling it, think about it.

So do the current railings need replacement?  Yes they do. Does it require some thought? Yes it does. So come on Cornwall Council, do your duty CONSULT.

The outcome of the meeting was that the planning committee objected to the railings and would write in the strongest terms to Cornwall Council over their failure to consult. 

Core Strategy

Don’t know what’s it all about, I read something in the paper, it won’t effect me, I can’t be bothered, it’s only something Cornwall Council are doing, it won’t  mean anything, it will be forgotten in a few months, it’s just another consultation.

Comments above ring a bell?

So why is the Core Strategy important?

Well, within this document is the future of Cornwall, the future of your town or village, even for many your street.

Identified within this document are the sites scattered throughout the Duchy as to where housing is going to be built, developments take place and there are a lot of them.

Doing nothing now is not an option. In favour or against if YOU do not make your views known NOW it will be too late.

Let’s jump forward a year or two.

Developer wants to build 400 houses on a site, which is just across the road from where you live, currently the site is used by you and all your neighbours to walk the dog, children play there, it’s the only bit of green space open to all on the edge of the estate where you live.

Planning application submitted by developer, you form an action group, write to newspapers, set up website. Lobby local councillor, councillor asks what colour do you want the doors, what?

Cornwall Council officers at the planning meeting, point out that the site was identified within the Core Strategy as suitable for housing, at the consultation on the Core Strategy 100% of the comments for this site were in favour, (there may have only been two comments, both from developers). Local councillor has nowhere to go, can object, but it’s in the plan, no one objected.

Cornwall Council wants to build 48,000 houses and their media department is working overtime to convince you and me that these are needed. Read here about that need. 

When you look at the Core Strategy, imagine that every area marked as an area for development is actually an outline planning application, if you want your view to be heard NOW is the time. 

St Erth Park and Ride

Today I watched the Strategic Planning Meeting from Cornwall Council on its plans for a Park and Ride at St Erth. (Planning officer favourite for the year)

Whatever the merits of this plan, my overriding impression was that not enough, well planning, had gone into it.

Remembering that the applicant is Cornwall Council, you would have though the officers would have some idea of what was going on outside of their offices, public meetings etc. But no.

The officers did not seem clear as to what the park and ride was for, one saying it’s to relive traffic in St Ives, then it’s Penzance and later still Penwith, it’s for tourists, no commuters, to take traffic off the A30.

How many cars will use it, we don’t know. 

How will it be funded once in place, don’t know. 

Can you buy a parking ticket and train/bus ticket, we haven’t looked at that.

How much will it cost to park, we don’t know. 

Which busses will serve the park & ride, the bus companies have indicated that they have no plans to divert busses to the site. Park and no Ride?  The 300 will go to the site, (the 300 is the open top circular route, summer only service).  

How will you address access to the site, lights on the A30, will this not cause congestion, we don’t know. 

What about the narrow bridge? 

How will a pedestrian get to the site?
And so on, you get the idea I'm sure.

Cornwall Councils bacon saved by late intervention of legal suggesting a site inspection, stops what looks like  a refusal. Decision deferred. 

Now a bit of a rush to do some planning and issue Hymn sheets before the next meeting. 

Housing

Cornwall Council in its core strategy claims that over the next 20 years we need to build a minimum of 45,000 houses to meet our housing needs. This is the minimum, it would actually like to build 85,000. Why, what is this housing need.

In 2001 the total population of Cornwall was 501,300, and in 2010, 530,900 so in that period the population increased by a total of 29,600 during a time of economic growth, remember during this time, we had the strangest celebration I’ve ever heard of, Cornwall qualified for ‘Objective One’. Lets celebrate we are one of the poorest areas in Europe, millions were to be spent in the area, well we all know what happened, at the end of that time, Celebrate again, we qualify, for Convergence Funding, why, because we are one of the poorest areas in Europe. But I digress.

An increase in population of 29,600. (As a guide Shropshire, a rural county of the same size as Cornwall had an increase in population of 10,200, its 2010 population 293,400)

But as with all figures, it’s not the whole story.

Where did this increase come from? Were a lot of children born?

Well no, in the 0 = 18 age range the figures were 110,200 back in 2001 and had risen to 110,522 by 2010, a total increase of 322, so not a lot was going on during long cold nights. If this housing is for our children, they will get a lot each.

With so much economic activity going on, the numbers in working age groups must have shot up, well no, again, for the 16 – 65 age range, the population increased by a whopping 13,757.

Just a 2% increase in working age population and in here is one of the most damming set of figures of all.  In the 50 -60 age range, people at the top of their profession, the senior managers, the big earners, the number living in Cornwall dropped, yes dropped by 5,300 in this same period.

So, where did all the growth come from, as we can see from the 50 – 60 age range, we did not get older and retire, we got older and left.

   

Yes, as expected all the big growth came in the over 60’s the number rising by 22,406, but as so many in the 50 – 60 age range left, this was not internal growth, a high percentage had to move in, and that’s the problem.

If, the economy of Cornwall remains as it is, or gets worse, the more likely, the housing need we are fulfilling is not there, the economy will not support it.

Yes, I know that many people living here can not afford to buy a house, that houses are not affordable, but they are affordable just not to us, so the problem is not a housing crisis, it’s an economic crisis and the building of thousands of homes will not and has never solved that. 

Golowan

Well it’s happened; something I have been expecting for some time today hit the press.

Cornwall Council withdraws all funding for Golowan.

For those who don’t know Golowan is the mid summer festival that takes place in Penzance each June. And it’s big and I mean BIG, 8 days of events, music, story telling, dance, workshops, church service, Mazey Day & Quay Fair day.

I know a fair bit about Golowan, as 6 years ago, when the original Golowan Organisation went bust, with the announcement made over the Christmas – New Year period, I was Mayor, during this period I received a phone call from one of the many Golowan volunteers asking what I thought could be done, this lead to a meeting between the two of us in the Mayors Parlour, on a wet and miserable afternoon, we discussed what we thought could be saved and what would have to go, would we be able to keep all the many 100’s  of volunteers on side?

The outcome was meetings with the volunteers and others to see where we could go. With just 6 months to the festival a lead body was needed and the Town Council stepped in, the council had always given a grant to the Organisation, but this was to be a different undertaking. To the many 1’000s who enjoyed that years Golowan  and others since, not a lot would have seemed to change, but it had and in fact had to. Since that time the Town Council has put more money and staff time into Golowan and remains today the lead body.

Today it’s announced that the Tory lead Cornwall Council has withdrawn its £27,000 funding for the festival. As with many headlines it is and isn’t true, in fact Visit Cornwall (a Cornwall Council body) withdrew half it’s funding last year, taking the grant down to £12,750, this year Cornwall Council have taken over this funding and has cut this remaining amount. Last year this funding gap was made up again by Penzance Town Council.

 This raises a couple of questions, firstly, why did Cornwall Council take over the funding from Visit Cornwall, well call me a cynic, but I think it’s because Visit Cornwall has blown it’s entire budget on “The Olympic Torch  Relay” cost at this time £150,000 and rising. So for a twenty minute run by someone through Penzance, giving very little or no benefit, an entire 8 days Festival is put in jeopardy.

The second question is who made this decision, I have searched & searched through Cornwall Councils minutes and can find no mention, was it made in Cabinet? By officers? Who?

Do, Cornwall Council have any idea at all of what the Golowan Festival is? Let me tell you a story, a few years back I stood on the steps of St Johns Hall, on Mazey Day, with an invited guest of the town, the deputy leader of the then Cornwall County Council, who I asked if he had been before, the answer was “No, I didn’t know it took place and just how big it is, but I will be coming to Quay Fair tomorrow with the family”.

Some would argue that in these times of belt tightening why should Cornwall Council pay a grant to a festival, this is something I have blogged about before, so will not repeat myself. Read here Lights

But if it just comes down to money, which everything does, read this report, prepared last year for Visit Cornwall on the impact Golowan has on the local economy. Golowan

The Tory’s know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Cornwall Council, Mr Lavery

A second post in one day about Cornwall Council, I posted earlier today about officers running the council, contrary to member’s wishes and now we know where this culture comes from, the very top.

Mr Kevin Lavery, ex-Serco golden boy, ex Newcastle City Council, parachuted in to run Cornwall Council on the tidy sum of £200,000 plus benefits a year.

Has taken the (very well paid £16,000) post to be returning officer for the election of a Police Commissioner for Devon & Cornwall, this despite the council telling him not to, for political reasons. Mr Lavery of course does not have to worry about this as he runs Cornwall Council PLC a small branch of SERCO, a non political organisation, with just a small board of 10 to keep happy.  So ignoring his employers he has taken the job on a personal basis.

So it’s a bit like you or me doing a bit of bar work in the evenings to make ends meet?

Mr Lavery, had to attend an interview for the job in London on the 1st Sept, a Thursday. Now in my world this could be a bit tricky, to take a day’s holiday or maybe pull a sickie, sneak up to London quick interview and back.

Now I don’t know how Mr Lavery, got the day off from his real job, but he’s not too bright, because he then charged the cost of getting to Newquay Airport on that day to his employers, 40 miles for travelling from home to Newquay airport and back, as well as taxi fares totalling £25.50. The reason on his expenses claim form was: "Flight to London – interview re Police Area Returning Officer."

Now I say he’s not to bright, because even the lad who washes the glasses in the pub where I do a bit of work on the side, isn’t stupid enough to do that.

It’s not yet known if Mr Lavery, also charged the cost of the flight to his employer, but I hope we soon find out. His employers said that they would have to ask Mr Lavery but could not because he was "out of the county" and unable to be contacted.

Unable to be contacted, can’t afford a mobile phone then or may be just run out of credit, now that sounds more like it, the lad who does the washing up has used that one.

Sainsbury's Sec106, Benefits to Penzance

Last night Penzance Town Council had a Special Full Town Council Meeting to discuss the Section 106 agreement and Food / Other goods split regarding Sainsbury’s Supermarket to be built on the heliport site.

[Section 106 of the Act, in conjunction with DoE Circular 5/05, allows for Local Planning Authorities and persons interested in land to agree contributions, arrangements and restrictions as Planning Agreements or Planning Obligations. Applicants can offer such agreements unilaterally or negotiate and agree them as support for their application to make it accord with local planning requirements, but without some of the rigorous controls of Planning Conditions under s 70(1).

It relates to monies paid by developers to Local Planning Authorities in order to offset the costs of the external effects of development. For example, if a developer were to build 100 new houses, there would be effects on local schools, roads etc., which the Local Authority would have to deal with. In that situation there might be a Section 106 agreement as part of the granting of planning permission. The developer might agree to make a contribution towards the provision of new schools.]

The Town Council are rarely if ever consulted on these agreements, but this time we were to be consulted because when this application came before the Strategic Planning Committee at Cornwall Council part of the resolution proposed and passed was that Sainsbury’s had to negotiate with Penzance Town Council & Ludgvan Parish Council on the retail split and sec 106. (Something I wrote about in a previous blog…. Here).

So all is good……… Sadly no, in fact a very big NO.

The first big problem is what the resolution of Cornwall Council was….?

Having viewed the web cast of the meeting many times (available here   at 2hrs 52mis to 2hrs 57mins)

My reading of this is “to pass the application with the condition that Sainsbury’s negotiate the retail split with Penzance Town Council & Ludgvan Parish Council proposed by Cllr A Wallis, and the section 106 agreement added by the chairman of the meeting, and a failure to do so, the application was to return to the Strategic Planning Committee”.

The Minutes of the Meeting do not reflect the above resolution.

Representatives of Penzance Town Council & Ludgvan Parish Council were asked to a meeting (in Camborne), by officers of Cornwall Council, the purpose of the meeting was to consult, the Town Clerk and two members attended along with two members from Ludgvan. Two officers of Cornwall Council, Sainsbury’s representative, a representative of JBP planning and a rep from British International Helicopters, were in attendance. The meeting was not productive, with Cornwall Council and Sainsbury’s making it very clear that they were not prepared to vary their original proposals. The Councillors and the Town Clerk were then put under pressure to make a decision on behalf of the Town Council but where steadfast in not doing so, and in fact had no mandate to do so. Remember this meeting was meant to be about consultation not negotiation.

A long way to get to last nights meeting, in fact this was the first chance the Town Council had to discuss the Section 106 agreement, the details of which where only made known to the council the day before the Strategic Planning Meeting.

So what are we talking about….

SAINSBURY'S SUPERMARKETS LTD & BRITISH INTERNATIONAL

HELICOPTER SERVICES LTD

PROPOSED MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT ON LAND AT PENZANCE HELIPORT

PA10/08714

S106 HEADS OF TERMS

Transportation

Item 1. Dedication to Cornwall Council of land with access rights through the Sainsbury's site for the purposes of constructing a Park and Ride facility (250 spaces).

Financial contribution to Cornwall Council to cover the cost of constructing the Park & Ride. (£1,200,000)

Item 2. Financial contribution to Cornwall Council to cover the cost of constructing two double length bus stops on Jelbert Way and pedestrian links to the Sainsbury's site before the store opens for trading. (£213,000)

Item 3. Financial contribution to subsidise a reduced price fare stage on public buses between the application site and Penzance town centre. (£75,315)

Item 4. Financial contribution to cover the costs of linkage improvements on A30 Eastern Green including a new at-grade crossing of A30 Eastern Green with the works to be completed before the store opens for trading. (£225,000)

Item 5. Financial contribution to cover the cost of replacement signage on the A30 Chy-an-Mor roundabout as required by the Highways Agency. (£20,000)

Town Centre

Item 6. Financial contribution to cover the costs of setting up the Penzance Business
Improvement District. (£35,000)

Item 7. Financial contribution to cover the costs of free or subsidised parking events for town centre car parks between September and May inclusive. (£152,000)

Item 8. Advice and support to Penzance Town Council on a strategy to promote the vitality and viability of Penzance town centre. (£15,000)

Item 9. Free in-store advertising space for town centre businesses.

A055583/SC   17 October 2011

A total of £1,935,315 that is a lot of money, all of the above was negotiated with Sainsbury’s by officers of Cornwall Council without any reference to any elected member and what a good job they have done for the highways department.

Item 1 & 2.  A Park & Ride for Penzance cost £1,200,000.

£1.2 million to turn a car park into a car park? Does Penzance need a park & ride? I was not sure about this so I sent an e-mail to the officer concerned to ask on what data was the decision made that Penzance required a Park & Ride (remember Cornwall Council are spending £9.5 million on a Park & Ride at St Erth just up the road), a week later I got a reply, well I didn’t in fact, I got an e-mail saying something else, so by return I sent a further e-mail asking the same question, 16 days later and no reply, I submitted a Freedom of Information request,( FOI’s cost you and I £350), why can’t you just answer an e-mail. Still waiting.

But this money is just for the building the Park & Ride, where are the funds coming from to operate it?

Item 3. £213,000 to build a bus stop.

WHAT, and that sum does not include any land cost, this is going to be some bus stop.

Item 4. Subsidise a reduced price fare stage on public buses between the application site and Penzance town centre. £75,315

Cheap bus to get you to and from their Supermarket. Big benefit to the town.

Item 5. Linkage improvements on A30 Eastern Green £225,000.

A roundabout on the A30 so you can get to our store.

Item 6. Replace signs on roundabout. £20,000

Going to have to anyway, they say that there’s a heliport down the road.

Town Centre

Item 7. Financial contribution to cover the costs of setting up the Penzance Business Improvement District. (£35,000)

Penzance has not decided if it wants to be a Business Improvement District. If it did this money would go to Cornwall Council.

Item 8. Financial contribution to cover the costs of free or subsidised parking events for town centre car parks between September and May inclusive. (£152,000)

I’m not sure what this means, but I do know that the money goes to Cornwall Council

Item 8.  Advice and support to Penzance Town Council on a strategy to promote the vitality and viability of Penzance town centre. (£15,000)

Thanks guys.

So let’s get this straight of the £1,935,315 for Penzance 98% goes to Cornwall Council and you tell us how to spend the other 2%.

Not such a great deal for Penzance.

We had an interesting meeting, I’m not going to post here (yet) what our plans are, as I wish to keep Cornwall Council Officers as much in the dark as they like to keep us. But I can assure you this is going to run and run.

Update: Penzance Town Council did return to the table and you can read  the outcome  Here 

Who runs Cornwall Council?

This past week I spent no little amount of time watching the web-cast from County Hall of the Budget Overview and Scrutiny  Committee meetings and what a sham they were.

When this single overriding Council was first formed, I had some fears that too many of the 123 Councillors elected to serve, had little and in some cases no experience of  the work of councils, and that officers would dominate, sadly after two years this would appear to still be the case.     

The budget papers given to councillors by the officers were poor, some had pages unnumbered, other councillors had no papers at all, the whole thing was an utter shambles, and remember this is the Council budget for next year, in these papers and numbers, somewhere, are the plans of which non revenue earning, non-statuary services the Council are going to try to offload to anyone else foolish enough to want to run them, hidden in here are the black holes were guesstimates of revenue income are little more than a officers dream.

Yes, many of the councillors did try to ask questions (when allowed by the chair) and yes, they did get some answers from the portfolio holders and officers, but the answers in most cases were not to the questions asked, and many have posted Blogs at their frustration: Cllr Andrew Wallis   Cllr Jeremy Rowe  Cllr Jude Robinson

But my anger is not with the Officers, it’s with the Councillors, where was your passion, your anger? Anyone who has heard me speak at a Town Council meeting on a subject that I feel passionately about, will agree that I have a bit of a style of my own, and I will be the first to admit that sometimes I overstep the mark, I will also state that I never hold a grudge against opposing speakers, in fact I welcome it, it’s only when you have an argument that you find your true feelings, but if I see a spade as black, trust me you will hear about it. I’m also the chair of committees, so I do understand the issues and would not enjoy chairing me.

So, faced with a Budget without the details, no papers, poorly prepared papers, a failure of officers to answer questions, what can a councillor do?

Now I should state at this point I do not have a set of Cornwall Council Standing Orders for the conduct of meetings, but this has never stopped me in the past.

 Stop the meeting. Assert your authority. You are the council not the Officers.

As Chair, I would have stopped the meeting, asked the officers to leave, and asked the committee what they wanted the Officers to present to the meeting and when.

As a member I would have proposed to the chair a resolution for the above to take place.

Win or lose the vote, the point would have been made, we are the council, we pass resolutions, you carry them out.

Now I know this is easy to say, sat as I am in my living room on a sunny Sunday morning, but at some point in the very near future the councillors are going to have to take some control of the council and officers are going to have to carry out the will of the council. Until that time comes we have a council of only 10 members and a group of officers running Cornwall, against the will of members.

A case in point….  Graham Smith