Last week, 61 councillors voted for a so called "Stadium for Cornwall" (40 voted against); we hope that they can now see the reality of their badly verified and researched madness. On the one hand, a few hopeful rugby lads going to the government begging for more millions to inject into the Cornish Pirates and Truro City FC, whilst on the other, a greenlight for John Betty's machiavellian plans to bail out Inox at Chiverton, and to push the council into borrowing an additional £600m to build thousands of new units between Penstraze and Chiverton Cross. An area where traffic comes to a standstill daily, where the A30 is only dualled in one direction, where the promised Northern Access Road (NAR) to Treliske is still not there ten years on, where air quality levels are rapidly approaching Truro's, ie. toxic (See council website: AQMAs), where there is no infrastructure for sewerage, so holding tanks will need to be built (then shipped to Newham by lorry at regular intervals for disposal... past Treliske!), and where emergency services struggle more every day, to get our sick and dying to Treliske Hospital. First, our kids can't afford to buy a new home, and now, the council adds another £600m to its approx. £2bn debt, straddling them, and probably our grandchildren with record year-on-year council tax increases for decades to come.... How did so many councillors get it so wrong? Were they hypnotised by the dastardly shoe-in pensioner developer from Bristol, John Betty (who doesn't even live in Cornwall, but whose wage from Cornwall Council beats the UK Prime Minister's)?! One of those responsible for the chaos is Bob Egerton of Probus, Grampound and Tregony; from Cornish Solidarity's FB page: MEET BOB THE BUILDER WHO IS ONE OF KREMLIN KERNOWS CONCRETE FIENDS AND THE GLOVE PUPPET OF JOHN BETTY AKA THE MAD MONK OF KREMLIN KERNOW. Councillor Bob Egerton Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economy is one of the prime movers of the building frenzy currently gathering pace in Cornwall's already beleaguered countryside. Rumors currently circulating suggest that Bob the builder along with his puppet-meister John Betty will be promoting the concept of 10,000 houses between Langarth and Chiverton Cross. He is on record as stating that the Stadium for Cornwall would unlock the currently stalled Langarth project, which given his extreme concrete fetish, suggests that anything could (and probably will) happen along the A390 Truro Western Corridor. Online discussion between two campaigners: Interesting piece in the Western Morning News yesterday complaining that the councillors that voted to give money to the Stadium ignored the council's own canvassing and the West Briton's online poll that people were opposed to the policy. That’s right but what the hell are the press doing about this moral bankruptcy??? Still reporting on picnics and country fayres?!! Great!! Kevin is right; they are now planning to build 10,000 homes between Langarth and Chiverton. Yes indeed they are, according to the latest information and Phil Mason presented the hideous plans to Truro City Council on Monday evening!! Where are the houses going to go - are they looking to compulsory purchase? Probably, unless we can challenge the whole thing at council or in the courts beforehand, or unless there’s another banking crash forcing the council’s hand, they can’t borrow any more. We’re not far away from the latter, but.... God our rugby fraternity is dumb and blinkered... and I’m one of them!!! John Dyer was at the meeting last night and said Mason denied they had plans to build 10,000 homes. John Dyer told the councillors that voted for the Stadium that the whole story is like The Emperor's New Clothes. He says both the Pirates and Truro Football clubs' annual accounts are in the red. And the estimates of annual running costs of the Stadium are 1.2-1.5 mill a year A letter from one campaigner to councillors: "Dear Cornwall Councillors, Thank you to the courageous, analytical and forward-thinking forty who braved the overzealous rugby crowd to inject a small degree of reason into this acceleration of debt, crumbling infrastructure, poor air quality and ongoing destruction of both Cornwall’s social and environmental heritage. I too would like a stadium for Cornwall. But I was hoping to have it at the right cost, in the right place and for the right reasons; when I read this article, it reinforces my belief that none of these goals were met on Tuesday, sadly. www.change.org/p/cornwall-council-phil-mason-council-s-chief-planning-officer-has-failed-cornwall-and-must-resign/u/22659284 Having additionally read the CEO’s report on the posh Cannes trip she enjoyed with five other fortunate investor-seekers earlier this year, I could not see any particulars for future investors in a new hospital, a new “stadium road” (the NAR), new schools or surgeries and especially none coming forward to blow fresh air into our nine Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) or as I call them, Toxic Air for Cornish Kids (TACKs). So £50,000 well spent then... I do wonder whether some of these officers live in a parallel world. Perhaps you could remind them that this isn’t Cornish monopoly, but real Cornish residents with real lives, who have to put up with increasingly and rapidly failing services and infrastructure whilst paying ever higher taxes for the privilege. Looking at the recent past record of senior council officers, I expect many will be long gone when we see the full benefits of their strategy for “growth”: growth in queues at Treliske, growth in respiratory illnesses, growth in waiting times at schools and surgeries, growth in car journeys and growth in emergency service response times... I expect at least 61 of you will possibly rue the day (Tuesday 17th April, 2018) that you fell for the Betty levy, or years of higher council taxes to pay for falling social and air quality. I’m very sad and disappointed that more couldn’t see through this latest gimmick and scam, or face up to their own convictions clearly and publicly. And thanks once more to the magnificent 40! Kind regards" And a poignant poem from a parish council chairman: I was born in Cornwall many years ago, I lived a life of sunny days without any snow. The lanes we walked were clean and trimmed the ditches were all clear, Cars were few we lived a life without so much as fear. Population explosion was not a thing we knew, Our neighbours were our friends of lifetime as we grew. Our towns were places with so much and all we ever needed, Flora day and Harvest fair to go we always pleaded. We didn't know we didn't have, what we now desire, Our lives are now so complicated filled with angst and ire. The towns are now so quiet with coffee at each step, How is it we cannot find a cup ourselves to prep. Our banks all close as we all can, pay everyone on phones, Our friends who worked there everyday are now robotic clones. The market on a Monday was a rural must, All things were available from people we could trust. Fish and chips was the food of market days of yore, We have so many choices now of food from near or far. Have we gained in all this rush to improve our daily lives, Would I go back to sunny days a simpler time to strive. I think I would the time seemed great it's good to reminisce, What we all have now all things that we would miss. Of this time in history would I like to go? I think I would, one small change, just add a little snow.