Just as the council prepares to turn from service provider to speculative developer, one local councillor puts another worrying question to those in charge of Cornwall Council:
From: KENNETH Rickard
Sent: 09 August 2018 10:07
Subject: £2.4 BILLION DEBT, are you aware?
Dear Cornwall Councillor,
Although you should be aware that Cornwall Council's financial position is what many would call "in dire straights”, there are councillors, including the cabinet member for Planning and Economy, who are not. However before you take further steps to borrow a further £600 million to fund what is considered by many as “speculative development” and a gamble with public money, it is essential that elected members are aware of the true financial picture of Cornwall Council as recorded in the authority's accounts for 2017/18 now submitted for audit.
My decision to circulate the following information was prompted by the fact that at a recent meeting (recorded) a cabinet member responsible for Planning and Economy openly admitted that he did not know the actual deficit figures, an obvious omission that he is not aware of the accounts. After being challenged and then told of the actual figures he said “no, no it is nothing like that. This is the person who is driving the plan to borrow a further £600 million to use on the "speculative development", in other words, a gamble with taxpayers' future liabilities.
What a damning indictment of the standard of this cabinet member who has responsibilities for Planning and Economy. it certainly questions this person's ability to make relevant decisions about our taxes and the Cornwall’s economy.
The 2017/18 accounts show that the authority's pension fund deficit is £1.143 billion, and that short term borrowings are £93.437 million, with long term borrowing of £636.772 million, in total costing council taxpayers nearly £1 million a week in interest payments. Further to that, the Council plans to borrow a further £600 million which will result in a financial millstone for future generations of council taxpayers to overcome, of £2.4 billion. That is an outrageous financial legacy to leave, a similar situation which brought down Carillion.
It is any wonder that the general consensus amongst council taxpayers is that the authority, in its present form, is not fit for purpose? As things stand, you will be part of that decision making process which will saddle Cornwall with an excessive debt that could have dire consequences.
Regards,
Ken Rickard,
St.Dennis.
We should never forget this shocking statement, one of the last made by Cornwall Council CEO Andrew Kerr, just before he abandoned ship and ran for the north, in 2015.
"We live in a developer-led world. We're dependent upon developers coming in and saying they're going to build houses wherever they've bought land or wherever they've contributed to land. That doesn't mean all developers are bad people. That doesn't mean that all developments are wrong. But what it does mean is that we are not in control of our own development."