All this hokum about a national stadium for Cornwall and who's going to pay for it, blah, blah, blah..... We ALREADY HAVE ONE! It's underused, and the irony is that Cornwall Council already owns it. It's in a good location, can cater for athletics as well as football and rugby, and all it needs is for stands to be built. And here it is! Carn Brea Athletics stadium CORNISH SOLIDARITY HEARTILY ENDORSE THIS PROPOSAL. 1 IT ADJOINS THE MAINLINE RAILWAY. 2 THERE IS ALREADY A DISUSED STATION. 3 IT HAS GOOD ROAD CONNECTIONS TO THE A30. 4 IT HAS PLENTY OF PARKING. 5 THERE IS SHOPPING NEARBY FOR SPOUSES DURING A MATCH. 5 IT IS ALREADY OWNED BY CORNWALL COUNCIL. 6 THE PARKING COULD BE USED ON WORKDAYS AS A RAIL BASED PARK AND RIDE FOR TRURO FOR THOSE COMING FROM THE LOCAL AREA WHO ARE CURRENTLY PART OF THE CONGESTION PROBLEM ON THE A390 WE WOULD NOT BE AGAINST CORNWALL COUNCIL UNDERWRITING THE ENTIRE BUILD COST AT CARN BREA WHICH MAKES MUCH MORE SENSE THAN TAKING ON WHAT WILL INEVITABLY BE AN OPEN ENDED FINANCIAL COMMITMENT AT LANGARTH FARM. SO LETS SEE A BIT OF COMMONSENSE AND CRACK ON WITH IT. One supporter's comment: "There's only room for stands on two opposite sides, but the available land outside and adjoining opens the door for a decent standard development. I'm told that the running track needs to be torn up and replaced, but even that's preferable and far more economical than a whole new stadium on land the Council doesn't own. Some stadia that have been used for international tournaments only have stands on two sides, such as Estadio de Braga, Portugal, which has bare rock-faces at either end." Letter to the VIP at the council: Sent: 30 January 2018 11:58 To: adam.paynter@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk ; julian.german@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; mike.eathorne-gibbons@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; bob.egerton@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk ; andrew.mitchell@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; edwina.hannaford@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; geoff.brown@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; kkennally@cornwall.gov.uk; fjdyer@cornwall.gov.uk; Sarah Newton MP; EUSTICE, George; cabinet@cornwall.gov.uk; barry.jordan@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; Kaczmarek Mark CC; Subject: Langarth opposition briefing 30 / 01 / 2018 posted on social media change.org petition site and various recipients deemed relevant. Dear Cornwall Cabinet Members The Stadium for Cornwall issue is divisive at a time when Cornwall needs cohesion in the fight against an enemy that will destroy the very fabric of what Cornwall really is and can be. Cornish Solidarity is not against the principle of a stadium indeed we wholeheartedly support the concept. However much the promoters of Langarth as the preferred site might despise our stance our opposition to a stadium being built at Langarth with any element of public money being involved remains implacable. The reason for this goes back to 2011 / 2012 when Inox stated that they would provide a ''free stadium'' in return for planning permission for 1700 homes at Langarth Farm. The planning permission was granted in pristine open countryside a long way from the centre of Truro on what even then was a notoriously congested stretch of road incapable of any meaningful improvement. The prime movers were: 1- Kevin Lavery: then Cornwall Council CEO and proven sharp operator who soon legged it for Kiwi Land when his dodgy deals unravelled. 2- Rob Saltmarsh: CEO of Inox Developments a bit of a chancer whose main claim to fame was having more neck than a giraffe. 3- Phil Mason: Cornwall’s chief planner currently featuring in a change.org petition calling for his removal. 4- Former Crofty miner and Cornish Solidarity member Mark Kaczmarek who became a very good councillor until he got a cabinet post as portfolio holder for housing and ideas above his station as the fall guy for the Langarth scam. 5- A gullible sporting fraternity whose craving for a stadium blinded them to reality by turning them into cannon fodder for Inox to cynically dupe and use. Given these less than sound foundations the Langarth project quite predictably crashed and burned because at the time in question it simply was not viable. Cut to 2015 / 2016, when presumably on the advice of a consultant working for Cornwall Council with regard to the provision of ''affordable housing'', persuading the council cabinet to back the purchase of part of Langarth to ''kick start'' the stalled development. QUESTIONS: 1- Was the consultant in question, Bristol-based Hamiltons apparently operated by a certain John Hamilton Betty, who in quick succession became a Cornwall Council staffer as Strategic Director Economic Growth and Development? 2- Is there any possibility of an inappropriate connection between Mr Saltmarsh and Mr Betty in relation to Langarth, given their roles in the development sector in relation to Mr Betty's current high profile role in the public sector, and excessive enthusiasm, where professional detachment is paramount? 3- Does the recently announced pending departure of Dr Sandra Rothwell, Chief Executive of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP and Service Director – Economic Growth, have any connection with Mr Betty seeing her as a rival to be disposed of? 4- Given the intrigue and sheer opacity of this latest incarnation of the Langarth planning fiasco, which to any reasonable observer would seem to be tarred and feathered with intrigue, half truths and untruths in equal measure, is it wise that our council is involved at all? Councillor Paynter would you kindly respond to the questions recently put to you by Cornish Solidarity? You may care to note that Mrs Newton, as a result of pressure applied by constituents, is now taking a personal interest! Much as the stadium promoters protest to the contrary, there is a viable alternative available, were they and the Cornwall Council Cabinet to remove their rose tinted blinkers and smell the coffee. Cornish Solidarity put it to you all as Cornwall Council Cabinet Members that the appointment of Mr Betty has installed into your midst an ever bigger menace to Cornwall than the utterly discredited Kevin Lavery who instigated this fiasco. We put it to you in the clearest possible terms that Cornwall Council could well do without the growing public sentiment that is increasingly evident by way of the anger that the local planning process is creating. Yours faithfully The Cornish Solidarity Team Meanwhile, beware big business, common purpose and dodgy large developers living off public-private financial spoils: www.ukcolumn.org/article/carillion-behind-headlines