Whilst Phil Mason asks the council to borrow another £600m ("ish"), and CC has to make £60m interest payments every year, Council tax payers are set to face another record bombshell in the form of much higher tax rates for residents and businesses. But we're sure Wain Homes will be exempt as their money is probably more likely to be in "Paradise" than in Cornwall, where it has just announced a new batch of second homes for sale - just what Cornwall needs for its 30,000 local families on the Cornwall Homes register: www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/wainhomes-advertised-new-houses-launceston-751836 So our Local Plan is all about more Second Homes, but very, very few truly affordable Homes, or even any Social Housing; where do I begin about the moral bankruptcy of our Planning Department?: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/fewer-social-homes-second-world-war-local-authorites-councils-housing-tenants-right-to-buy-a8047011.html If this wasn't bad enough, Cornwall Council, unsure as to its own treasures, went looking in Lancashire for a firm of consultants to tell the Cornish what's great about Cornwall! In its wisdom, the firm of experts highlighted "Poldark" & "Pasties" as two real gems... for a mere cost of £75,000. Or roughly equivalent to the annual cost of two new nurses desperately needed at Treliske. www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cash-strapped-council-paid-experts-11489741 One supporter wrote to the council to register his disapproval at all this waste, when we already employ an army of experts and officers at the council, on wages ranging from £60k £200k pa: "Good morning Councillor Paynter & Ms Kennally I hope you are both well. The above link was brought to my attention by a petition supporter from your area, up on the border near Councillor Paynter’s ward, which confirms that it is not just in the heartlands of mid and West Cornwall, where discontent with the way things are panning out on the development front is evident. What however is clearly evident to me is the possibility that maybe, just maybe, this carnivorous corporate developer could be finding it a tad harder to shift its production units given their inherent unaffordability locally. Still there is a silver lining to every cloud, insofar as these can be offset against the 5,000 extra second home units appended to the Local Plan by your chief planner's friend, the unctuous Simon Emerson, late of Her Majesty’s Planning Inspectorate. I am dismayed and deeply saddened by the downward trajectory of our council's popularity, now that the honeymoon period of hoped for improvement by your new council has run its course, and things get rapidly worse for the increasingly put upon Cornish Council Taxpayers. I am unsure whether you have been made aware, but an official complaint has been lodged about the handling of the Langarth affair which I enclose for your information along with some anecdotes relating to several other unsavoury goings on in the Truro area, that have done nothing to endear Cornwall Council to anyone, because a very blind eye was conveniently turned by Lys Kernow at these times. What really angers me is the inducement of a ‘’free stadium’’ (bribe?) ‘’as long as I get permission for 1,700 houses next door’’! Not content with that, when the ‘’free stadium’’ wheeze predictably stalled, the 'con man' returned demanding another planning permission for extensive retail space adjacent to West Langarth abutting directly onto the gridlocked A390, ‘’in order to finance’’ the ‘’free stadium’’, which again was granted, despite that to date, there is still no sign of any ‘’free stadium’’ emerging from the hubris of this monumental fiasco. My complaint relates specifically to this, however, as past experience gives me no confidence whatsoever that any notice will be taken and less still that any action to correct the matter will result. No doubt I will merely be logged as an even bigger more vexatious troublemaker than I already am!" There was an interesting letter in the Western Morning news today, about the controversial spending of £75k on the report above: Dear Thinkingspace, Thanks so much for coming down to Cornwall with your consultancy team. Lancashire is a long way away, but we thought it wise to ask you, from the far North West, how we, in the far South West, should do things. Some here in Cornwall have suggested we might have been better to ask people closer to home, people who live and work in Cornwall, people who understand the area’s needs and issues, people who have a really clear grasp of what would help Cornwall both economically and socially. But myself and the other members of the leadership board thought: What do they know? Why would we want the views of people in Launceston? Far better to get highly-paid consultants from Lancaster, 400 miles away, and pay them handsomely for their opinion. We hope you had a lovely time this summer, travelling around Cornwall as guests of our Cornish taxpayers, and finding out stuff about what makes Cornwall tick. We knew you’d like it. And we knew you must be very clever folk, what with you being called “consultants”. I imagine at least one of you has an “ology”. I have your findings on my desk in County Hall right now, and I have to say your report makes very good reading. I see you suggest Cornwall ought to promote “a sense of place” and that we should “embrace the environment, focus on tourism and develop our food and drink sector”. I particular found it interesting to discover that some people you spoke to (probably when you were down the beach, soaking up a bit of sun) believe “improving job prospects” is important to them. Mm, I wouldn’t have thought of that (see, I’m not a consultant). All this is kind of what we’ve been doing for a while now, but hey, it’s nice to know that you, super-clever consultants, agree. I’m so pleased we had plenty of spare money in the council’s coffers to pay you thousands for your advice. Much better than spending it on essential services, I’m sure you’ll agree. That Labour councillor Tim Dwelly might scoff, describing my decision as “a huge waste of money” and “a right booboo” and calling your work “the worst PR and consultancy guff imaginable”, but I bet he hasn’t got an “ology”. I much prefer your proper PR-speak. I like “dynamic entities” and “inclusive growth” and “exploit the brand” and “thinking bigger and wider” and “help tell the story of our assets”. I have no idea what any of it means (I’m not a consultant, ha-ha), but I am impressed by big words. That’s why I called this initiative a “strategic narrative consultation exercise”. Tory MP Steve Double called it “daft”. And as for Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole getting all teasy about paying you “to tell us what we already knew”. What does he know? He’s only lived in Cornwall his whole life. But I bear no hard feelings. Ee by gum, I don’t. If that Dick Cole walked into my office right now, I’d say: “Ow do, Dick, there’s nowt to be mithering aboot, don’t be such a babby. Here’s a barm cake, now shut your cakehole.” Please find enclosed cheque for £75,000. Lots of love, Adam Paynter