As we celebrate the first anniversary of this petition, launched end-July 2017, we note that nothing much has changed at Cornwall Council, other than an acceleration of service cuts, consultancy spending, poor quality house-building, farmland-grabbing and debt accumulation. Remind me again why we employ an army of council officers, lawyers and other council "consultants"?? So whilst everyone worries about appalling Council debt, of which more and more of it is spent on real estate/shopping centres and speculative development, Cornwall Council decides to up the ante by borrowing another £600 million to.... develop new towns across Cornwall, for.... 100% in migration, as finally admitted by Phil Mason and Council Portfolio Holder, Councillor Bob "the Green Builder" Egerton, at a recent meeting with campaigners. As if £1.3 million per week (of council tax payers' money) paid to the banks in interest wasn't enough, officers think speculative development to rehome newcomers to the Duchy is a great way to get itself out of debt. Maybe they haven't yet made the link between "speculative development" and "gambling". Just as they fail to see the link between new homes (with garages and car ports) and traffic congestion, because, as Bob explained carefully: "People drive cars, not houses!", so presumably 7,000 new residents in Cornwall in 2017 will have been catered for by 7,000 Park & Ride places, bus seats and jobs??? Good work, Bob! Watch out for your council tax bills hitting the roof every year until 2030, when they'll presumably decide to add another 100,000 homes for all but local families needing them.... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Iwan%20le%20Moine/My%20Documents/Downloads/Town%20halls%E2%80%99%20risky%20deal%20spree%20teeters%20on%20the%20brink%20%20Business%20%20The%20Sunday%20Times%20(1).html In separate news, an Open Letter to Cornwall Council re. ludicrous expenditure: "AN OPEN LETTER TO CORNWALL COUNCILLOR ROBERT ROTCHELL - CABINET PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR ADULTS. THERE IS NEWS TODAY OF AN UP TO £4 MILLION CONSULTANCY COST TO SAVE CORNWALL COUNCIL UP TO AROUND FOUR TIMES AS MUCH IN RELATION TO ADULT SOCIAL CARE WHICH SOUNDS OK UNTIL ONE THINKS ABOUT IT. QUESTION. What will these ''consultants'' be doing to earn this kind of money in the context of adult social care that cannot be done at a lower cost in house? COMMENT. We were under the impression that we are already (willingly) paying a council tax premium ring fenced for adult social care. QUESTION. Where will the money to pay said consultants be coming from in the short term until the projected savings materialise, will the money be coming from funding raised by the adult social care council tax uplift? COMMENT. We were again under the impression that the adult social care council tax uplift uplift would largely solve the looming financial crisis that adult social care is inevitably facing in Cornwall. QUESTION. Given the latest news suggests that the adult social care uplift is not, in reality sufficient, what is the latest projected financial requirement going forward that makes this consultation exercise necessary? COMMENT. This news would appear to be yet another example of Cornwall Council chasing its own tail in the face of the easily predictable consequences, resulting from the ''growth agenda'' house-building frenzy encouraging the inward migration of disproportionate numbers of ''coffin dodging'' retirees from elsewhere, who really ought to be someone else's problem. QUESTION. In this context, is it reasonable that yet again Cornish Council taxpayers - rather than the councils where the inward migrants originated - should be financially responsible for the social care of those who have not previously contributed into the system as council taxpayers in Cornwall? AS ALWAYS CORNISH SOLIDARITY IS HAPPY TO OFFER THE RIGHT OF REPLY TO COUNCILLOR ROTCHELL"