It is a few days since I returned a short holiday and think
it is time I updated my blog. I have just realised that I had neglected to post
my latest monthly report about my work on Cornwall Council. It is posted below
and relates to 22nd April – 23rd May
2014 .
1. National
minority status
It has been an exciting month with the Government
announcement that the Cornish are to be recognised as a national minority
through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
This means that the Cornish people will be afforded the same cultural protections
as the Irish, Scots and Welsh.
I was fortunate to be interviewed by a range of newspaper,
television and radio outlets, both across Britain
and further afield, and I even had the Have I Got More News for You programme taking
the mickey out of me.
2. Council
meetings
I have attended a range of meetings over the last month.
These included: Full Council; Environment, Heritage and Planning Policy
Advisory Committee (PAC) (an associated informal meeting plus two associated
pre-agenda briefings/meetings); informal Transport and Waste PAC; Strategic
Planning Committee (briefing on recent appeal decisions); Central Planning Committee;
informal Planning and Development Improvement Group; China Clay Area Network
Panel; Group Leaders; and Code of Conduct training.
I have also attended a meeting of the working group dealing
with the campaign for national minority status.
3. Other meetings
I attended meetings of (i) the Indian Queens Pit Association
(trustee), (ii) the Clay Area Training and Work Centre at St Dennis (chairman),
(iii) the St Piran Trust, (iv) the Executive of the Rural Cornwall and Isles of
Scilly Partnership, and (v) a get-together of Local Action Groups, looking
ahead to the next phase of Leader / Community Led Local Development between
2014-2020. This last meeting took place in the Summercourt Memorial Hall.
4. Repair of
road bridge near Perrose and Retyn
At the time of writing, the repair work on the road bridge
near Perrose and Retyn is nearing completion. It has taken slightly longer than
anticipated as the Environment Agency specified that additional works had to be
undertaken around the bridge in order to aid the movement of trout and eels. I
would like to put on record my thanks to the Cormac team for the relative speed
with which this work has been carried out.
5. Tarmaccing
of Gaverigan / Highgate roundabout
The resurfacing of the roundabout took place between 6th and
14th May. I dealt with a number of queries about access issues during works,
and I would like to put on
record my thanks to the Cormac workmen for the manner in which they liaised
with local residents and completed the works.
6. Surface
dressing
It has been confirmed that the old A30 between Fraddon and
Indian Queens, which was patched last year, will soon be surface dressed. The
provisional date for the works is mid-late June, and the re-lining of this
stretch of road will take place immediately after the surface dressing. I am
liaising with officers about the extent of the relining to ensure that all bus
stops are adequately marked.
7. Patching on
local roads
In recent weeks, I have met with officers of Cornwall
Council and Cormac, and I have the following update on possible works on roads
in St Enoder Parish.
I have received an assurance that some patching will be
carried out on the road leading from Fraddon Hill to Higher Fraddon. I had
hoped that certain works were undertaken last year, but I am pleased that I may
be able to get them done in the near-future.
The following works are definitely on the provisional list
for 2014-2015:
Burthy Row - patching
Halloon roundabout (approach) - resurfacing
Narrow Lane to St Enoder - patching & surface dressing
Trefullock Moor, Summercourt - patching
Whitecross to Lukes Shop - patching & surface dressing, plus
a small drainage improvement at Lukes
Shop
It is also my understanding that the following stretches of
road have also been added to the provisional list for patching:
Burthy / Chytane
Carvynick, Summercourt
I have been informed that Cormac will also be undertaking a
drainage improvement scheme near Melbur Blockworks in order to reduce flooding
on the highway.
I am continuing to push for patching in the following areas,
which have yet to be added to the provisional list for works.
These include:
Resurrance to Goonabarn
Trewinnion to Retyn
Trevarren village
8. Drains in
Fraddon
I am also pleased to be able to report that a camera survey
of the road drains throughout Fraddon has been pencilled in for the first week
of June. Local representatives are keen to better understand the nature of the
drain network, because of the flooding problems experienced throughout the
village during the last two years.
9. Property
Level Protection (PLP)
As noted in my previous monthly reports, the unitary
authority commenced a new Property Level Protection (PLP) scheme across Cornwall ,
earlier this year. A number of domestic properties were assessed in February to
see what could be done to help safeguard their recently flooded homes against
future incidents. I have just had it confirmed that the financial arrangement
for the scheme has been put in place and nine properties in St Enoder Parish –
seven in Fraddon and two in Chapel Town, Summercourt – will soon be
contacted again to arrange for the improvement works to be carried out.
10. Consultation
into mobile library services
11. Letter from China
Clay Area Network Meeting
As noted in my last monthly report, I drafted a letter in
association with the Network Manager of the China Clay Area, on behalf of the China
Clay Area Network Panel in February. It was sent to the Chief Executive,
Corporate Directors and the members of the Cabinet. A reasonably lengthy
letter, it set out local concerns that the five parishes within Clay Country do
not receive their “fair share” of Cornwall Council expenditure.
A written response has been received from the Leader of
Cornwall Council and this was considered at a meeting of the China Clay Area
Network on Thursday 24th April. The meeting was not pleased with the content of
Mr Pollard’s letter, and I drafted a further letter which was sent to him in
the last week of April.
I recently received a further response from Cllr Pollard, which
is a separate agenda item for tonight’s meeting.
However, printed below is a telling extract:
“Not only do we have to delver services geographically to
‘communities of place,’ such as the China Clay Area, but we also have to
deliver services to individuals and to specific ‘communities of need.’ I would
therefore strongly argue that an analysis of expenditure solely on geography
without looking at need or interest whilst being a costly and resourceful
process would not help address any perceived imbalance in service delivery.
“I maintain that the strategic work that the Council is
currently doing will help address some or all of the concerns of your network.
We are currently developing a Council Strategy – the ‘what’ – which will be
evidence-based and will include socio-demographic information and will set a
long-term vision for Cornwall and
for local service delivery. This Strategy will be underpinned by major cross
cutting service reviews that include themes such as ‘customer access’ and
‘localism and devolution’ – the ‘how’ – which will put the Council and partners
in a much stronger position to work with the limited resources available to be
able to deliver services across Cornwall and to best meet local need of both
communities and individuals.”
We are clearly making little progress in relation to our
concerns, and I am extremely worried about what the next few months have in
store for us as the unitary authority is hit by more and more cuts.
12. Homechoice
Cornwall Council has just commenced a consultation into the
Homechoice housing register, which allocates social housing on behalf of
Cornwall Housing and a number of registered providers such as Ocean Housing. I personally
oppose a number of the changes to the register, which I consider to be
retrograde and self-defeating.
The consultation is an item on the agenda of tonight’s
meeting and I hope to have the opportunity to outline my concerns to the meeting.
13. Planning
matters – general
I have been in contact with planning officers on a range of
planning applications. This includes the application by Rags SW for revised
conditions for the warehouse store at Toldish. The application is to be
withdrawn after I discovered that the application was seeking to modify a
condition on a planning permission that had never been implemented. It will
soon be resubmitted, based on the appropriate consent, with further information
about additional conditions.
14. Planning
matters – wind turbines
As promised at a previous meeting, I have made a number of inquiries
about the planning consent for two wind turbines near Goonabarn, which was
granted in 2013, and the subsequent erection of the first turbine. A written report
will be tabled at the meeting.
15. 200th
anniversary of Wesley Chapel, Indian Queens
I was delighted to be able to attend the concert (with
Johnny Cowling and Oll an Gwella) at the Chapel, followed by a “pasty supper”
to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Methodism in Indian Queens. It was lovely
to see almost 200 people crammed into the Chapel and thoroughly enjoying
themselves.
16. Inquiries
Throughout the last month, I have also helped numerous
people with advice and guidance on a wide range of issues.
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