One supporter writes: "A FACEBOOK PAGE LIKE CORNISH SOLIDARITY IS BOUND TO BE UNPOPULAR IN CERTAIN CIRCLES. Were it not thus, it would be a futile and pointless exercise. Its whole reason is to expose perceived wrongdoing, waste and inefficiency, centred around the administration of (OUR) Cornwall by Cornwall Council. This is achieved by constructive criticism, after observing the organisation and those involved in it, in action. If necessary, we are more than prepared to rattle cages hard. We freely accept that not all of what (OUR) Cornwall Council does is bad; we also accept that there are many excellent and truly dedicated people who work very hard to achieve the best for us, under often very difficult circumstances. However, within Lys Kernow, there are certain individuals who are not working in Cornwall's best interests, attested to by the appalling policies they are responsible for implementing and the positive bias exhibited towards speculative developers. There is an increasing groundswell of discontent evident amongst ordinary Cornish people who do not know what to do about this. It is therefore our duty to do something on their behalf, because we all have children and grandchildren who are going to suffer if we do nothing. It would appear that what we say and do is very closely monitored by Lys Kernow, which tends to suggest that while we are on the face of it ignored and dismissed, behind the scenes notice is being taken and the threat we pose evaluated. On Friday last, a somewhat satirical report on the gathering of planners, developers and LEP members, at St Austell business centre, was published, that would have probably touched on some very raw nerves. Yesterday the post which had been shared extensively, unaccountably vanished completely from this page and the pages of the ones who shared it. This suggests that we may have been nobbled! Nice try whoever did it, but you are making a very serious miscalculation if you think this particular genie can be unceremoniously shoved back in the bottle." Another take on the "housing summit": https://cornwalldevelopersparadise.wordpress.com/2017/11/23/delusional-disorder-cornwalls-housing-growth-summit/ Full text here: Delusional disorder? Cornwall’s housing growth summit A collective mania firmly grips political and economic elites. Symptoms manifest themselves in the delusion that we live on an elastically extendable planet, with infinite resources available to plunder at will. The escalator of never-ending ‘growth’, infinite consumption and all-devouring greed has no end, no limits. Unfortunately, in the real world there is only one world. This has finite resources. Two centuries and more of fossil-fuel based industrialisation and rapid population growth have resulted in the unparalleled extinction of animal and plant species. Meanwhile, the globe steadily heats up. But 99% of those who make our decisions for us seem either blissfully unaware or couldn’t care less about the earth or future generations. Nothing is permitted to disrupt business as usual. Note the anguish that surrounded yesterday’s announcement in the Budget that growth rates were lower than expected. Predictions of 2% a year were downgraded to 1.5%. Cue shock and outrage from assorted journalists and Labour MPs. Yet simple mathematics tell us that a 2% growth rate equates to a doubling of the economy in just 35 years. Even 1.5% means it will double in 47 years. Which in turn means we have to reduce pollution, waste, carbon emissions and the like by a half just to stay on our current disastrous trajectory. Forget about absolute decoupling (of growth and greenhouse gas emissions). It’s not happening. And it’s not going to happen. While at the state level complacent politicians bury their collective heads in the sand, we have our own home-grown, or at least home-based, growth obsessives. Cornwall Council’s rhetoric is peppered with gung-ho statements about the ‘need’ for ‘growth’. Although in good Orwellian fashion, they call it ‘environmental growth’, a meaningless oxymoron, which at least justifies the ‘moron’ part of that word. The growth fetishists at Lys Kernow are frantically trying to ‘grow’ more houses and more people. As if one of the highest regional population growth rates since the 1960s isn’t enough. For these people the transformation of our communities and environment has to be ramped up. We need more. More houses. More roads. More cars. More shops and more jobs for all those extra people who will come and live in the extra houses, to enjoy their ‘Cornwall lifestyle’ in a suburbanised wasteland. Last year only a handful of English counties had a higher housebuilding rate than Cornwall Having dumped us onto this merry-go-round they have no idea how to stop it. Even if they wanted to. On the contrary, not content with a new build rate in Cornwall of 2,600 houses a year in 2016-17, equal to an extra Truro every four years or so, these 'impossibilists' are still not satisfied. To that end, tomorrow Cornwall Council hosts a ‘housing growth summit’ at St Austell. This will seek ways to ‘accelerate housing delivery’. The inhabitants of this little ‘growth at all costs’ bubble will meet to breezily reassure themselves that their new suit is not in actuality just more of the same old emperor’s new clothes. All the usual suspects will be there. The portfolio holder for homes [sic] will welcome the assorted ideologues and give a democratic veneer to the gathering. Then it’s over to the unelected and the bureaucrats. Various senior council officers will be in attendance. Housing associations will be present. They’ll all eagerly listen to the ‘Head of Accelerated Delivery’ (I kid you not) at the Government’s South West Homes quango as he brings the latest orders from London. ‘Lord’ Matthew Taylor will have the easy job of convincing them more houses will lead to ‘vibrant communities’, to replace the boring old lifeless and apathetic communities that give Cornwall such a bad name. John Betty, director of economic growth at Cornwall Council, will tell them how to get more ‘strategic growth’, much better than any old growth, presumably. LEP Chief Executive Sandra Rothwell will proudly assure the delegates that Cornwall ‘leads housing growth’. Strangely, no-one is scheduled to talk about maximising profits for the big upcountry developers, although someone from the Private Sector Developers’ Forum will be on the ‘expert panel’. As is Phil Mason, Head of planning and population growth at Cornwall Council. For these people Cornwall is infinitely expandable (or should that be expendable?). The hyper-growth of the past 50 years may not have produced prosperity, unalloyed joy or universal happiness. But no worry. There are no limits. There is no capacity crisis. Just keep taking the medicine, folks. In fact, let’s up the dose considerably, while persuading the masses it’s all in their own best interests. And, most depressing of all, that’s not too difficult a task these days. Meanwhile, one builder in St. Day suggest local builders should look out: "If anyone in the building game is rubbing their hands together at the prospect of sustained employment, building 52,500+ houses, the rug may soon be pulled from under your feet. The movement seems to be towards factory-built houses; basically a pre-engineered unit with electrics, plumbing, etc..., all ready to plug in and inhabit. A lot less labour intensive, and unless factories here are geared up to produce this type of unit, more potential income lost from Cornwall ! Once again, we have all the pain and very little gain!" And in the local press, more bad news on roads and in towns: www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/lettersandcomment/readerswrite/15637133.Why_are_builders_blocking_our_access_road_/?ref=mrb&lp=5 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/a395-launceston-blocked-both-directions-842374 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/a39-crash-biker-slow-traffic-842585 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/first-time-ten-months-motorists-832350 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/penzance-road-closed-motorbike-in-822588 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwall-placed-flood-alert-heavy-842004 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/nhskernow-budget-dialysis-cuts-826413 www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/angry-penzance-shop-owner-threatens-837588 (I thought councils were there to help local residents who already pay them extortionate rates and council taxes?!!) www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornish-business-owner-going-extraordinary-840010 www.cornwalllive.com/news/property/aldi-recruiting-jobs-cornwall-vacancies-778984 (Can someone explain to me how all but one of these jobs will make £250-350,000 homes accessible for people on £8-10/hour?) www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/fresh-figures-show-number-registered-840065 (Is this what all the fuss was about when Manchester Council allegedly bought a chunk of new homes in Penzance and Redruth?) Finally, one supporter added this philosophical note: “Some rich man came and raped the land Nobody caught him Put up a bunch of ugly boxes And, Jesus, people bought ‘em”. From 1976. Still happening. After four months online, petition statistics are: Area & villages # of Supporters Redruth-Pool-Camborne 529 Penzance-Newlyn-Helston-St Ives-Hayle 517 Truro-Threemilestone-Roseland-Chacewater 460 Bodmin-Liskeard-Wadebridge-Launceston-Bude-Saltash 371 St Austell-Clay Country-Lostwithiel-Fowey-Par 319 Newquay-Quintrell Downs-Perranporth-St Agnes 307 Falmouth-Penryn-Mawnan-Mylor 212 CORNWALL 2714 Cornish expats / Others: 1179 (of which) Plymouth 74 London 39 Bristol 30 Edinburgh 16 Exeter 12 USA 34 Australia 23 Total (28-11-2017) 3893 Other related petitions in Cornwall, where planners and developers are just ignoring all reason and knowledgeable local concern, in the pursuit of pure greed: www.change.org/p/adam-paynter-stop-cornwall-council-spending-our-money-to-subsidise-developers/ www.change.org/p/cornwall-council-planning-sarah-newton-mp-please-refuse-further-harmful-development-on-st-agnes-beacon/ www.change.org/p/cornwall-county-councill-stop-the-free-range-egg-farce/ www.change.org/p/cornwall-councill-stop-cornwall-councill-putting-new-p-d-machines-in-falmouth-and-penryn/