The concept of a 'free' stadium for Cornwall is one that has been put about a lot in the past, muddying the troubled waters of the Langarth development proposals considerably. However, in reply to an enquiry from Cornish Solidarity about the facts surrounding public funding for the much-hyped stadium for Cornwall, Cllr Andrew Mitchell (St Ives West division and Cabinet member for Homes) appears less enthusiastic than formerly. Cllr Mitchell stated "There is no 'free' stadium! The planning application which hinted at, or stated, such a thing will, in my opinion, not be delivered and is currently not an option being pursued by Cornwall Council." So can the 'free stadium' idea now finally be put to bed? Well, not yet, as officers may still be pushing for public funds from the Cornish taxpayer being used to deliver what increasingly looks like a disastrous white elephant. With even the hapless Chief Planning Officer, Phil Mason, admitting that the Threemilestone/Langarth strategy is a 'mistake', and ex-Council leader John Pollard describing it as a 'mess', the whole sorry fiasco is unravelling about their ears. It is quite clear that councillors have not had the facts about this proposal from the start. Cllr Mitchell admits that officers are still working on proposals and that "no councillor, or member of the public has all the facts." Coming from a councillor that has stated that developments at Langarth will "benefit" the people of Truro, his comments suggest that he is starting to have his doubts. In fact, it would appear from replies from other councillors that they also feel officers have been disingenuous with the truth - none that replied seem to have accurate information about the proposals, and express concern at the idea of public funding to support the stadium. Perhaps, at long last, councillors are waking up to that fact that their officers have been manipulating them for a long time with dubious information in which real, hard facts are deliberately missing. Andrew Mitchell says by email: From: Mitchell Andrew CC Date: 3 March 2018 at 10:23:17 GMT To: P.I. Subject: Re: The “free” Langarth Stadium There is no 'free' stadium! The planning application which hinted at, or stated such a thing, will, in my opinion not be delivered and is currently not an option being pursued by Cornwall Council. There is still work being carried out as to what will be put forward to the Cabinet and then, hopefully Full Council; so at the moment no councillor or member of the public has all the facts. I understand and appreciate the comments and points about possible white elephant etc. I would like to see a Stadium for Cornwall, but not at any cost and therefore keep an open mind and look forward to the papers that will be coming forward. Yours sincerely, Andrew. A. P. Mitchell. Cornwall Councillor - St. Ives West Cabinet Member for Homes A more forthright and damning response from new SPC Chairman followed soon after: From: Rob Nolan Date: 6 March 2018 at 12:59:17 GMT To: kevin bennetts , ,, , Subject: Re: Truro development Dear Mr Bennetts Thank you for your email. You shouldn’t worry yourself to much about whether I like your petition or not, you must just get on and campaign in whatever way you feel will get results. I certainly understand the anger and frustration that motivates your campaign. We are seeing massive changes in Cornwall, that are for the most part unwelcome, and yet we seem completely powerless to stop or change anything. But there are changes in the air, there’s a recognition that mistakes have been made and that it’s not just about building houses to meet a target but about building communities and, perhaps most important of all in my view, tackling the problem of housing our young people. I hope that during my time as Chair of Strategic Planning I have made the process more open, and perhaps been more respectful of all voices than was the perception of the process in the past. I’d like to have had a greater impact, stopping some of the more inappropriate developments that we’ve seen, but I’ve often instead been left feeling powerless as the Government Inspector overturns our decisions, or on occasions the committee takes leave of its senses, and I’ve said publicly on the radio that I completely disagreed with some decisions, but that’s democracy for you. The work of making the process more open continues. We are introducing a system for greater public involvement in Planning, and at an earlier stage. So public meetings will be held at the start of the process and the public can comment and ask for changes and be involved in the process. They won’t get the change they want of course, for the developers to go away! Since I started writing this Mrs May has announced plans to take away planning powers from Council’s that don’t build enough houses. This is going to make the role of Planning Committees even harder! I’ve commented in a bit more detail on that on my Facebook page. My wife wants to go along to Mrs Carylon’s meeting on Saturday, perhaps I’ll see you there and we can chat more informally. Best wishes Rob Whilst several of his colleagues at Cornwall Council were either totally opposed to public funding or didn't feel they had all the facts: "my view has never changed and never will the proposed stadium is in the wrong place" "Dear Sir(s) I write to say that I fully support the notion of a Stadium for Cornwall and believe in all of the benefits that it will bring to the Duchy. This may come as no surprise, as, believe it or not, I was an avid and active sportsman well into my forties. In fact, if it doesn't 'fit' at Langarth then I would welcome its presence in Redruth. However, with regard to funding and whilst I am prepared to listen to the future debate, I can categorically state that I will not be voting for any Cornwall Council or Non-Governmental public financial contribution, whether Capital or Revenue, towards the project. Furthermore, I will not be supporting a non-repayable or interest free loan either. In my book, albeit the wrong analogy, but 'the Polluter should pay'. I trust I have made my position clear. Many thanks for your question. Oll an gwella ... best wishes" "Thank you for your emails. As I new councillor last year and a substitute member of the Strategic Planning Committee I am still getting up to speed on the details of this project, so I am grateful for your information." "I did read the previous letter and considered it carefully as I did with what you sent yesterday evening. I apologise for not replying. I usually do when I have time but I want to reassure you that I did read both. I am reluctant to comment at this stage because I am not aware yet of what proposal or options on the financial/investment side is going to be placed before the council. I do know a fair bit about the planning history because I was on Strategic Planning in both the last council and this one. It seems highly likely to me that further planning applications relevant to the whole issue will be considered during this council and that's another reason why I am wording this very cautiously. I am well aware that I need to know more and, with other councillors, ask appropriate questions. As a result I genuinely find it helpful when people like yourself make contact in a challenging way. Best wishes" "Thanks My view has long been no Monies from Cornwall Council on this particular project Nader Nil Zilch Nowt" "Dear Sir. Thank you for your email. I do apologise I did realize that your first email called for a reply. I certainly have been sounding out my community on their views on whether they will wish to use their money to fund this stadium and I will certainly be reflecting their views if the ruling group decide to allow the full Cornwall Council Membership to have a binding vote on whether we provide funds as requested. The information you have provided is most helpful in my talks with members of my community on the whole issue of public funds being used to fund private projects. KInd regards" "Good morning, I cannot support Langarth or the stadium, I feel it is a total disaster waiting to happen. Regards" "I see your letters, and am no automatic fan of the Stadium idea, but will reserve any decision until I am satisfied I have heard all the debate." "Thank you for your email The majority of my constituents I’ve spoken to in Bude the furthest town from Truro are not in favour of a stadium supported on the rates by Cornwall council and I agree with them I would support a stadium funded 100% from the private sector Regards" "My stance remains the same as it always has been. I am happy to support a stadium but not with any public money. Kind regards" Finally, one former senior planner, who believes that current planning & development in Cornwall is a disgrace, states: "I think the first thing that needs to be done is secure full control of planning and development as a devolution package under Cornwall's sole control. It was initially refused in John Pollard's day, so we must try and try again until we get it. We should also lobby for an overhaul of the Planning Appeal system. I have mentioned this before, but it never hurts to reiterate it. The current 3-choice system is wrong, and particularly the third choice of the Public Inquiry. This is the only one of the three choices that involves hugely expensive barristers, and allows claims for costs. This choice should be abolished, and the sooner, the better. Unlike the other two choices (Written Representations and Local Inquiry), the Public Inquiry option can take up weeks of professional time and incur astronomical costs, and it is the option that allows wealthy developers to use it as a stick to beat cash-strapped Councils with, and force them into submission. It has to go. The other two options can remain, as long as they are not altered. Keep barristers and cost claims OUT of the Planning Appeals system. Of course, if full control of planning is devolved to Cornwall, then so should the Appeal powers of Bristol for Cornish applications be transferred to Cornish control. We have our own professional planning consultants that are independent of the Council, and several highly qualified and extremely able architects. We have several retired and long-experienced planners, too. From these a panel should be appointed to form Cornwall's own Appeal adjudicators. In that way, the whole planning system will be in-house and transparent. I suppose you've all now seen The Mekon's (Sajid Javid) latest ranting about "not building enough for local communities". Dammit all….it was HIS Inspector that imposed 52,500 unnecessary houses on Cornwall that will be mostly unaffordable to the local community, and had us mass-building for external desire, and not for local need! The amount of truly affordable houses that we are building remains pitiful." Given that many towns across Cornwall have now been placed in AQMAs, ie. Nitrogen Oxides are intoxicating our residents due to traffic volume, it might be time for our planning officers and council lawyers to start acting on behalf off their communities, by taking back control of planning, by attacking regional inspectors and even government policy, as others have recently done successfully: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Iwan%20le%20Moine/My%20Documents/Downloads/UK%20Government%20loses%20third%20air%20pollution%20case%20as%20judge%20rules%20air%20pollution%20plans%20%E2%80%98unlawful%E2%80%99%20%20ClientE.html Environmental lawyers ClientEarth today won a third case against the UK government over the country’s illegal and harmful levels of air pollution. In a ruling handed down at the High Court in London this morning, Judge Mr Justice Garnham declared the government’s failure to require action from 45 local authorities with illegal levels of air pollution in their area unlawful. He ordered ministers to require local authorities to investigate and identify measures to tackle illegal levels of pollution in 33 towns and cities as soon as possible – as 12 of the 45 are projected to have legal levels by the end of 2018. This will be of great embarrassment to ministers, as it is the third time that they have lost an air pollution court battle against ClientEarth. And whilst many fight to bring some sanity to Cornwall's beleaguered towns and greenfield integrity, government ministers led by Savid Javid try to bully councils further: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43275611 More comments from supporters: "I would think anybody by now understands that none of these housing developments are for locals! The numbers are all wrong as Cornwall has a higher death rate than births. Ergo all this building is for migration into Cornwall, but as a taxpayer we are paying the council to destroy our environment. We have loss of countryside, loss of infrastructure too few schools, pot holes all over the place, loss of air quality and most significantly a health service under severe strain. There are not enough jobs down here and most are low paid and well below the national average, oh but that doesn't matter as 40% of our houses are second homes. Get real CCC we need our land not just for food, wildlife and somewhere tourists want to come to but also to provide jobs. You are busy killing Cornwall as a tourist destination and should grow a backbone and challenge the government's figures, which over the last 3 decades have been worked out on completely flawed statistics......" "So we’re nimbys are we? Sorry but the Governments own white paper Feb 2017, signed off by Theresa May & Sajid Javid states: 1) Right homes in the right places. 2) Honest assessment of the need for new homes. 3) Maintaining strong protections for Green Belts. 4) Give communities a great day in the character if new builds. 5) New Infrastructure must be in place to prevent road congestion and pressure on school places at the right time. 6) New affordable homes must be delivered For those not met by the market. In Falmouth, Penryn and the surrounding villages none of the above points laid out by the government has been met." Towns & villages # of Supporters for this petition: Penzance-Newlyn-Helston-St Ives-Hayle 770 Redruth-Pool-Camborne 736 Truro-Threemilestone-Roseland-Chacewater 604 Bodmin-Liskeard-Wadebridge-Launceston-Bude-Saltash 566 St Austell-Clay Country-Lostwithiel-Fowey-Par 500 Newquay-Quintrell Downs-Perranporth-St Agnes 423 Falmouth-Penryn-Mawnan-Mylor 347 CORNWALL 3946 Cornish expats / Others: 1744 (of which) Exeter/Other Devon 127 Plymouth 111 London 74 Bristol/Bath/Gloucester/Clevedon/Swindon/Cirencester 72 Cardiff/Wales 70 Edinburgh/Glasgow/Scotland 52 USA/Canada 54 France/Spain/Italy 44 Australia/NZ 37 Total (05-03-2018) 5690 (Photo shows Truro a few short years away, before Mason and his team got hold of it)