Stand Up for Cornwall – Our Money, Our Future, Our Voice!

Are you happy with the way Cornwall Council is being run? We have a council managing a budget of around £1.2 billion, with over 5,800 full-time equivalent employees, all supposedly focused on sustainable growth, reducing social inequalities, and improving public services. Yet the reality on the ground tells a very different story.

Cornwall Council's debt has ballooned to between £1.7 billion and £2 billion through long-term borrowing. Interest payments alone are costing taxpayers over £150,000 every single day. Meanwhile, council tax for 2026/27 has risen by 4.99% – the maximum allowed without a referendum – adding yet more pressure to hardworking households already struggling with rising costs.

Kate Kennally, the Chief Executive, joined the council in January 2016 after years of experience in other local authorities. As the highest-paid officer, she earns around £165,000 plus expenses and additional remuneration packages – well into six figures for top-tier leadership roles.

She promised a successful economy, wisely spent taxpayers' money, high-quality public services, strong support for our most vulnerable residents, and help for disabled people to remain in their own homes. She declared she was "here to serve" Cornwall and to stand up for our county.

Councillor Leigh Frost, Leader of Cornwall Council and head of the Liberal Democrat group (representing Bodmin St Petrocs since 2017), was elected leader following the May 2025 local elections. His salary is around £56,000 plus expenses, supported by eight cabinet members.

He spoke of building a better Cornwall through a "collaborative administration" where people decide together. He claimed no single party should control the council, and that everyone, no matter who they voted for, would be heard and represented for the good of "one and all". He insists "we have no spare money".

Yet this "collaboration" came about through an arrangement with the Independent Group that effectively side-lined Reform UK, the largest party after the election with 28 seats, keeping Reform councillors largely in the dark on key decisions. So much for everyone having a say.

So, after all the promises and fine words, have they delivered?

· Council tax keeps rising while services feel stretched thinner.

· Towns are struggling with empty shops, boarded-up premises, and areas blighted by drugs and hostels.

 ·Businesses are closing, jobs are harder to find, and historic buildings are left to decay.

· Farmland is being lost to solar panels and wind farms, while potholes grow deep enough to "fish in".

· Hedgerows and trees go unmaintained, making storms more devastating.

· Beaches and rivers suffer repeated sewage spills, with little apparent pushback from the council to protect our environment and tourism industry.

· Holiday parks face collapse, some have housed illegal migrants, and hotels turned into temporary accommodation have become hotspots for crime and drugs, damaging our reputation and economy.

· Theft in shops is rising, leaving staff uneasy and communities less safe.

· A "Faith Covenant" has been introduced, raising questions about priorities when so many feel our own Cornish heritage and identity are being eroded.

The list goes on. Our children's generation faces a future with fewer jobs, unaffordable housing, and the prospect of inheriting even greater hardship. We risk losing the true essence of Cornwall – the "Land of Saints" with its proud history and distinct identity, if this continues.

We cannot stand by and watch everything we've worked hard for slip away. We don't want their vision of the future; we want ours; one that puts Cornwall first.

Our money. Our future. Our time to fight back.

This petition calls for a public vote of no confidence in the current leadership of Cornwall Council: the Chief Executive and the Leader, to demand real accountability, transparency, and a change of direction before it's too late.

Have your say, or they will have their way.

Onen hag oll

(One and all)