Petition updatePlanners, Councillors, Inspectors and MPs have failed Cornwall and MUST stop the damageCornwall & Parish Councillors start to question the new Betty strategy; or is it the costly lunacy?
Cornish Community VoiceTruro, ENG, United Kingdom
Feb 26, 2018 — From: Dyer John CC Sent: 24 February 2018 15:30 Subject: Re: Stadium for Cornwall - Proposed information session from Stadium Directors This is a MUST READ and send it to anyone else who has strong views about this subject [a] on the initial request for £6million, and [b] ongoing running costs year after year that; in my opinion the ratepayer [that's you and me] will be expected to pay through our rates. My fear is this will be another millstone around the neck of the ratepayer for ever. We must all remember the officers especially the ones that live out of Cornwall only present ideas not Money! When they [The Council] have closed (or asked Parish Councils to take over the running and costs of) toilets, libraries, parks etc…, what is so special about a stadium that Cornwall was promised would be provided for free twice. [a] just before "outline " planning permission was granted for 1500 houses on Langarth Farm and [b] again, when the detailed permission was granted for those same houses. Even the Chief Planning Officer has been heard to echo complaints regarding this whole scheme. The population of Penstraze and many other users of the main A390 Road from Chiverton to Threemilestone, and beyond to Treliske - Cornwall's major Hospital - and Truro itself, are far from supportive of this project. Please help us to reject this crazy idea; there has been no mention of the 4.5 miles approx. of drainage to take the foul drainage to Callenick or the "Northern Area Relief" Road, which rejoins the A390 at Treliske Hospital, so what will that do for the A390 from Treliske to County Hall roundabout? Your very concerned John Dyer [local C.C. member] From: Nolan Rob CC Sent: 24 February 2018 14:12 To: Alvey Martyn CC; OBrien Mark Cc: Biscoe Bert CC (Home e-mail); Dyer John CC; Eathorne-Gibbons Mike CC; Egerton Bob CC; German Julian CC; Harris David CC; Rich Loic CC; Tudor Dulcie CC; Sanders Sally Subject: Re: Stadium for Cornwall - Proposed information session from Stadium Directors Hi Mark You might need to book a bigger room. I've had several emails from local people opposed to the Stadium, who could very well turn up wanting to have their say. Rob Rob Nolan CC Councillor for Truro Redannick Chair of Strategic Planning From: Alvey Martyn CC Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2018 7:15:17 AM To: OBrien Mark Cc: Biscoe Bert CC (Home e-mail); Dyer John CC; Eathorne-Gibbons Mike CC; Egerton Bob CC; German Julian CC; Harris David CC; Nolan Rob CC; Rich Loic CC; Tudor Dulcie CC; Sanders Sally Subject: Re: Stadium for Cornwall - Proposed information session from Stadium Directors Hi Mark I think it is important that each network makes its own call on this. However, as it’s location is actually ‘in’ our network and it’s so contentious, their coming to brief us is essential. Martyn Sent from my iPad On 23 Feb 2018, at 6:21 pm, OBrien Mark wrote: Dear Councillors We have been approached by the Directors of Stadium for Cornwall who wished come to the Community Network Panel meetings across Cornwall and present about the Stadium ahead of the Council vote at April Full Council. You will recall, at April Full Council, there will be a single yes/no vote as to whether Council should invest £6m into the Stadium. We are informed that they are not seeking to canvass ahead of the vote, however they are simply keen to present information about the scheme to enable Members to be best informed before the vote. At this stage, all Community Link Officers have been asked to speak to their CC Members and simply gauge if they would wish to have a presentation from the Stadium team. Could I ask you, therefore, to let me know your view by Wednesday (28th Feb) as we are collating Member interest across all areas and we will then look at how we organise any briefing sessions. Kind regards Mark Mark O’Brien Community Link Officer – Truro & the Roseland Community Network Area Localism Team Resilient Cornwall Service Neighbourhoods Directorate In response to all these developments, Cornish Solidarity wrote to Probus, Tregony and Grampound Cornwall Councillor Bob Egerton: Sent: 26 February 2018 12:51 To: bob.egerton@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk ; adam.paynter@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk ; mike.eathorne-gibbons@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk; andrew.mitchell@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk Subject: CAUSE + EFFECT + CONSEQUENCES HAS INITIATED A TOXIC DIVISIVE CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT BENEFITS NO ONE. Dear Councillor Egerton Many thanks for your detailed response to my question tabled at last week's full council meeting, which is noted. I regret that it was necessary to slip in a supplementary question that was admittedly but necessarily a little ‘’off piste’’, and note your displeasure evident in the curt response I received from you; however needs must, because the question is legitimate and highly relevant, so I feel it is necessary to press for a clarification of Cornwall Council's position. To refresh your memory, here is the question again: ‘’What would Cornwall Council's position be, where a senior officer appeared to moonlight by also offering consultancy services via a consultancy of which they are a director, to third parties where there is the possibility for a serious conflict of interest, more particularly in relation to planning and development matters?" I contend that the question is highly relevant, particularly in the light of recent developments, and would therefore find it regrettable were Cornwall Council to decline to clarify its position. I would much prefer this not to be seen as a complaint in the true sense, but rather a genuine request for information and transparency in relation to an issue that a significant number of supporters have expressed a concern about; one in particular, a former planner himself, put things very succinctly in the following statement: ‘’The day that any elected representative begins to view their electorate as something to be ridiculed or ignored is the day that he or she ceases to be fit for office’’. I would add my own comment that ‘’exactly the same applies to any unelected officer, insofar that it is devilishly difficult to loyally serve two masters’’. I would further comment that the number of supporters which Cornish Solidarity have is growing steadily, currently in excess of 5,500 on our petition site alone, where the comments make very interesting reading, if you care to peruse them. www.change.org/p/cornwall-council-phil-mason-council-s-chief-planning-officer-has-failed-cornwall-and-must-resign I put it to you in the strongest possible terms that when viewed in relation to the individual number of votes cast for any elected councillor, 5500 supporters is somewhat significant (even in the context of your own strong performance of 1,118 votes). We may seem vexatious, we may be inconvenient to you, however, we are parents and grandparents who have come together under the Cornish Solidarity banner in the fight against the direction that Cornwall has been taking since 2009. Cornish Solidarity are united in our collective anger and dismay at being constantly ignored and dismissed by our council; we are denied any right of reply while, for example, the cosy Private Developers' Forum enjoys most privileged access to the planners and councillors; having ceased to publish its minutes in 2014, one cannot help but wonder what has gone on in the interim. Let me assure you that we are not anti-development per se, but we are implacably against the trajectory you and your colleagues seem hell bent on pursuing at any cost. It was noted how many councillors were suddenly placing great emphasis on how they represent their electorates rather than a political banner, as evidenced in last week's webcast, so perhaps our message is actually getting through to a few of you, that we are not happy with Cornwall Council’s hyper development agenda as our council attempts to morph into yet another ‘’too big to fail’’ corporate crocodile. I have taken the liberty of copying your development related colleagues into this correspondence, in the interests of transparency. Your clarification as requested above would oblige at your earliest convenience. Yours faithfully Kevin Bennetts For and on behalf of the Cornish Solidarity Team "Cornishness is for life. Not just for St Piran's Day and 80 minutes at Twickenham!" Finally, an offer from one supporter to the Council Legal department after anonymous email threats were made by the council to members of Cornish Solidarity: Dear Cornwall Legal, Firstly, Bledhen Noweth Da to you ALL, and with this being the season of goodwill (just), I’ve come bearing an olive branch which I hope that you - as people suffering from the same irreparable damage to Cornwall as I am - might find attractive, despite the crass letter emailed to me during the Christmas break. I am willing to forgive (though probably not forget) your preposterous highly intimidatory email, as well as stop pursuing Mason’s massive planning flaws and errors as part of a new initiative for 2018; but against this, I would request the following: 1- That Phil Mason & John Betty perform a complete U-turn on current (over-)development policy for Cornwall, and go straight to the SoS for an appeal on the ludicrous housing target contained in the current (2010-2030) Local Plan (approved by a biased and unreliable inspector, Simon Emerson, in May 2016; I know, I was there and spoke at the meeting). 2- That your department (Cornwall Legal) investigates the following highly suspect events in Cornwall’s unholy developer-landlord-planner “alliance”, among many others: i- How did Duchy of Cornwall & Wain Homes acquire the land, for its huge Tregolls Road, Truro development, in 1997-99, when the land did not belong to either of these parties, having been bequeathed by a Truronian in the 1920s for the people of Truro to enjoy as greenfield land in perpetuity? Why weren't questions asked by councillors and why weren't Wain Homes properly punished by the council's enforcement team when the developer started destroying every large old-growth tree, despite TPOs all along that road? ii- Having turned down Persimmon Homes' highly controversial development plans in 2012, how was the appeal lost so humiliatingly by the County Solicitor, three years later, and why weren’t the proper files provided to her at appeal, by the planning department? Who was responsible for this fiasco, and what actions ensued? iii- When the Judicial Review ruled in Waller’s favour against the huge windmill development at St. Agnes, stating that the Cornwall Council planner had acted improperly, what action was taken to reprimand him for his misleading statements to the SPC meeting (according to the judge)? iv- Having fought hard against the Wain Homes development at Swanpool, why did SPC Chairman and Falmouth & Cornwall Councillor, Mike Varney, do a complete U-turn only to move in to Wain Homes’ first phase development, and how on earth did he afford this, given his previous residence, his years of modest earnings as a councillor and his unlikely candidacy for a mortgage at his advanced age? v- Given the overwhelming opposition to Truro’s Tregurra Valley development on Duchy of Cornwall land, off Newquay Road and Union Hill, how was this accepted and pushed through by planners, and who was responsible for costings, given Cormac’s sudden last minute (post-approval) cost increase to the taxpayer of some £4m? Who approved this additional cost to us, without a proper inquiry into this ill-thought through development which again, was widely condemned by Truro citizens at every level? Mike Varney was again involved and retired quickly to his new Wain Homes after the decision was made. vi- When St. Austell’s Holmbush was placed in an AQMA, forcing the council to place CPOs on some residents living in dangerously toxic areas due to heavy traffic, who approved the thousands of new Wain Homes across town, thus exacerbating St. Austell’s situation as a heavily air-polluted area? vii- What action, if any, was taken by the (Restormel) council to reprimand Phil Mason, after he allegedly fraudulently falsified the council’s decision re. the St. Dennis incinerator? viii- Who was responsible for designating (Lord Falmouth’s) Tolgarrick Farm in Truro, as brownfield development on the plans, subsequently explained by Phil Mason as an administrative error, given the vitally important need to properly develop brown rather than greenfield sites, where possible? ix- Given that Cornwall Council has placed so many towns in AQMAs, why are these readings/results not properly implemented at planning/SPC meetings, to stop unsuitable development and thus help ease the levels of Nitrogen Oxides that are slowly killing our elderly and children? x- Having moved Richard Lander school in Truro, the council promised Truronians that the land of the old school at Highertown would NOt be sold to developers for housing; who authorised this and why, given the nightmare traffic situation we forewarned and now see around Treliske? xi- When Persimmon Homes went for another highly controversial and unpopular development at Cathedral View in Truro, between Bodmin & Newquay Roads, two of their managers were jailed at Plymouth Crown Court for financial misdeeds; were these actions related to the land acquisition and planning permission for Cathedral View? xii- Who authorised the recent over-development by Wain Homes in Launceston, given these are now being marketed by the company as second homes, and not as initially promised, homes for growth in the local community and with some affordable? The latest actions confirm the scandalous nature of the lies being allegedly peddled by agents and planners at SPC level. xiii- Who was responsible for signing over Truro City Football Club's Treyew Road land to the crook Kevin Heaney's Cornish Homes development company; land which was managed by trustees on behalf of the club and all Truronians, and which was subsequently seized by creditors as part of Heaney's bankruptcy proceedings? xiv- Who was responsible for pushing through the (West) Langarth and other farms along the western corridor, given what we know today about the disastrous sewerage and traffic situation, which will eventually cost Cornish taxpayers millions every year? Which landowner profited from all the farm sales, which firms were promised what by which councillors and planners? Phil Mason has publicly accepted (though not yet apologised for) that the whole Truro Western Corridor development strategy was a mistake; why isn't the council rapidly pulling out of this 'Vietnam' situation as quickly as they possibly can, and who is responsible for the council U-turn on the free stadium U-turn? Which developer and consultants set to gain from this U-turn? xv- When councillor Loveday Jenkin ripped into the agent for the new massive Helston development extension last year, and exposed the whole thing as a morally bankrupt exercise in development, where the developer's agent had used false, wrong and out-of-date statistics, as well as 'forgetting' to add future traffic to their road usage models, why did the council/SPC accept this scheme regardless? xvi- What happens to the 5-year land supply when we reach 2025 (in seven years), and the 52,500 homes target has been reached (or surpassed); will developers still outwit, outsmart, outplay and outpay our planners and county solicitors at more appeals, to go beyond the currently obscenely high target set by morally bankrupt Simon Emerson at the EiP in 2016? xvii- Why did the council stop recording air quality levels in Truro and other towns, in 2011, when quality has become so bad since that date that the council itself has placed Truro as well as many of these other towns in AQMAs? And why do residents of Newquay and Quintrell Downs continually replace private monitors because developers allegedly knock these down? If there's nothing to hide on the Prince Charles-inspired mass development/new town outside Newquay, why do some want to stop any recordings coming to light? These are just seventeen relatively simple questions, the answers for most of which are probably easily accessible on/in council sites/archives. Given that I understand there to be some 37 lawyers working for the council on our behalf, I would hope that this would be highly manageable. There are more questions, but I wanted to see if we could agree a deal in principle. A relatively successful outcome to this first phase would restore my trust in this council. If some degree of satisfaction can be reached with the points above, then I'm sure I could convince the team behind the petition to start working with, rather than against, what most people in Cornwall perceive as a highly inadequate and flawed planning department. I await your feedback on this proposal. Regards, One member of the business community added: "Whoever it is at Cornwall Council Legal Services that has issued this threatening letter, seems to be ill informed about the Council willing to debate issues at the Council. This "debate" has been a one way street for over 12 months now and who can blame an individual for getting hot under the collar when no debate is entered into and every attempt to gain an understanding of the whys and wherefores of our planning department operations are dismissed. I am repeatedly asked by member businesses, stakeholders in the Cornish society and economy what is the rationale behind building 52,500 new homes in Cornwall where the 52 week population is in slight decline and ageing. All this at a time when our medical infrastructure is at breaking point. At a time when ever more (71,500 according to the ONS) in Cornwall are forced into self employment, because there are so few jobs available. The only thing I can say is fact - Andrew Kerr admitted in public that the Council has lost control of planning and that, that was now in the hands of the developers. Also another fact - a former Council member advised me that the Council is in such dire financial straights that the only way they could envisage getting their books back in order was to build lots more houses to generate lots more Council Tax income. I have asked politely for answers to the above, but I have had no response from the Council. Cornwall Legal it appears has been properly briefed with this information, so hopefully will be able to politely and positively respond. In anticipation. Kind Regards"
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