Orlando Kimber analyses the clash of ideologies between highly respected veteran campaigner Armorel Carlyon and our increasingly hostile Unitary Authority (UA).
Private Eye recently awarded Kremlin Kernow the dubious accolade ''Blue Sky Thinkers of the Year'' then there was the ''Cannes Do''.
https://soundcloud.com/jim-wearne/concrete-steel
Armorel Carlyon has represented the people of Truro for 45 years and has attended all the Structure Plan and Local Plan Enquiries since 1989.
Here is my précis of her excellent 16-page response - decorated with a few contributions from myself - to the NPPF, a document which defines the framework for Planning policy across the whole of the UK.
And here we meet the first problem. It’s a ‘one size fits all’ policy proposal. As such it takes no account of Cornwall’s unique environment, geology, archaeology, culture nor our economic status as one of the poorest regions in Europe. It ignores the fact that the South East of Britain receives 11 times more public funding than the South West, where Cornwall is situated. It also ignores the fact that the South West is rural and that the commerce here is dominated by agriculture and tourism.
It is a fact that the world population is growing and there are more mouths to feed. Food is paramount and therefore the means of production - farming - is vital. Food does not grow on supermarket shelves.
Moving on from this oversight, it is worth examining another piece of lazy thinking, but one that is daily broadcast in our newspapers, tv channels and Twitter feeds. Housing.
Shelter, like food, is a fundamental human need and we are told that the UK needs one million more houses. No reliable evidence is given for this, so let’s have a local fact: Currently there are 5663 houses on the market in Cornwall. It is true that there are local people who cannot afford to buy or rent a house, but their incomes are low in relation to housing prices. There is a need for genuinely affordable homes under £63,000, but not “more houses” per se.
Note the difference. Homes, not houses.
Aspirations
Yes, we all want a large house, a lovely garden, two cars in the drive and two holidays a year, but what we must have is a good home.
Cornwall Council has a ‘Local Plan’ in which it has committed to build 52,500 houses. At no point does it offer proof of why we need those houses. Note, that 52,500 houses results in a population increase of over 100,000, all requiring healthcare, transport, education, sewage, water supplies and of course, employment.
Neighbourhood Plans, which are created by towns and parishes, are meant to be the building blocks of the Local Plan. However in Cornwall, no such construction exists. As a result, when a town or parish states in a Neighbourhood Plan that it needs very few additional houses, they are told firmly that they must receive their quota…or more.
“It’s in our strategy” say the Council, however it seems that awareness of the consequences of their so-called strategy has not been dialled into the Planning department.As Churchill once quipped: “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
There is no vision, so how can there be a viable strategy to achieve it?
There is a list and there is one thing on it: “build houses”.
One example is a development in Truro which will house an additional 7000 people like you and me in an area where the hospital is already on black alert 24/7, schools are full and…need I go on?
Yes, because the sewage system is so badly under stress that the Truro River and subsequently the Fal River, are poisoned during heavy rainfall.
Further east up the A30 is an ancient marshland near Bodmin which routinely floods in winter. This is due to receive a minimum of a further 4000 souls.
God help them.
This pattern is repeated on the edges of ten towns in Cornwall whilst in many cases, the high streets are dying. Why is it that there are no low impact homes being built in town centres and instead, car-reliant satellite ‘Garden Villages’ are planned and built?
Responsibility
The local authority is responsible for actual Planning permissions, 95% of which are sanctioned by the unelected officers of the Council. They are civil servants and will therefore do as the Whitehall mandarins dictate. If Westminster says “allow housing”, housing is allowed wherever a developer wants to build.
However, the purpose of a Council - or indeed any Government -is to serve public interest. The public interest of Cornwall is in preserving the natural beauty of the environment, the fragile network of its communities and the tender shoots of enterprise.
I don’t think any of us would give our money to an unknown civil servant to invest on our behalf - it’s just “not their thing” as most public servants would privately admit - but this is exactly what Cornwall Council now demands.
It is now borrowing and additional £600m of debt to speculate on property development in a “change of direction.” No landscape is protected; no community has the authority to defend itself; and there is no vision or strategy of sustainability that serves our children or ourselves.
It’s all done in the name of “the economy, stupid.”
So who are the homes for?
If you are unhappy with your Unitary Council's performance, why not join the growing number of Cornish residents who have signed the vote of No Confidence, by following the link below:
In other related news:
Kremlin Kernow Insider Report:
Our first item of interest today is “Who earns what on Cornwall Council’s fourth floor”. The following eye watering salaries now being paid by the council in 2017/18 have revealed that the council’s new head of legal, Melanie O’Sullivan now earns nearly double of what her predecessor was paid. Ms O’Sullivan’s, who was initially engaged as an interim, received a salary £162,953 as the second highest member of staff. A survey of other local government’s head of legal officers are in the £50,000 to £95,000 range. Cornwall Council’s chief executive earned £173,417 and had an annual contribution to her pension of £30,348. (The British Prime Minister earns just over £150,000). Three Strategic Directors including Mr Masters, earned more than £142,000 and got pension contributions of over £20,000. Another senior executive received £133,276 and another received £101,402.
Kremlin Kernow employed nearly 30 people who each earned more than £85,000 a year.
The Langarth Effect - More jobs for the (non-local) boys and girls.
We now find four more new highly paid posts have been advertised to add to perceived empire building and no doubt created to contribute to the urbanisation of the Duchy. These are Project and Governance officer, Communications officer, Chair of Cornwall Investment Delivery Company, and Managing Director Cornwall Investment Development Company.
As basic services are neglected and lay-by's become public toilets, the wage bill rises along with the council tax.
The Yellow Tories resort to Cannibalism as Councillor Sue James gets devoured:
A group ballot by Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats has resulted in Cllr Sue James being dropped from her Council’s Cabinet position as portfolio holder for Environment and Public Protection (including waste) in favour of Cllr Rob Nolan.
Wot? No Gong?
It should come as no surprise that Cornwall Council failed to come home with the most impressive gong of Council of the Year from the awards gala held in London in March. This was won by Wigan. Although we know the Leader attended, it is not known how many of the Council’s senior executives attended too, or what the cost of the event was to Cornwall’s council taxpayers.
Wot? No Police merger…. But the consultants trouser £190,000:
The recent consultation conducted for the proposed police merger with Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, now abandoned, cost across the board taxpayers £380,000 which included £190,000 in consultants’ fees.
Meanwhile the very “undead” Mr Betty keeps popping up:
It is now learnt that Mr John Betty, who was employed by the Council’s Chief Executive without consultation or approval of elected members, to assist in her duties, on a salary of £140,000 a year, has left the council leaving behind nothing but a questionable trail of controversy. In the opinion of many, he will remembered for running his own company as an advisor to commercial growth companies, the commitment of taxpayers money, some authorised and some otherwise, the costly Cannes champagne fuelled trip that produced zilch, and the change of the authorities direction from service providers to speculators, seen as many a bridge too far. It would come as no surprise if Mr Betty returned as a consultant in the future.
Question: Why does such a top heavy and expensive level of employed senior officers need consultants?