Messages from campaigners around the Duchy:
“For ongoing health reasons, I can't be there tomorrow but, by God, I will be there in spirit.
Do remember, when you confront councillors (and officers) that THEY work for YOU. YOU are THEIR employers, lords and masters, not the other way round. Put them firmly in their place, if you need to, and make sure they stay there.”
“ITV Westcountry will be covering the protest tomorrow at around 9am.”
“I will be there for Cornwall Live from 8am”
“Funny how Laurence is discussing over development on tomorrow's phone in.”
“So reassuring to know I'm not the only one who thinks Cornwall's at risk of becoming a concrete jungle. And every post I read on my town's local page where someone says, 'we can't wait to move down to your beautiful county!' makes me scream a little inside. I hope to attend tomorrow that's for sure!”
“Just been told David from Radio Cornwall will be at Lys Kernow at around 8.15 to cover the protest and it will be aired on their 12 - 3pm show!”
“It really is a shame. Who makes these decisions?”
“It starts with central government, which passes its demands onto their office in Bristol and to the imported chief officers at Cornwall Council. It's all London-driven. Duped by their officers, Cornwall Councillors reluctantly voted for the 47,500 houses (increased to 52,500 by the inspector and now 60,000) by 2030, fearing retribution from London if they went for less than that. If there was ever a damn good reason to cut loose from Westminster rule, then that is it.”
“The problem is, the houses aren’t built for marine environments; vast expanses of grey steel and glass just doesn’t work right by the sea. So they look shoddy in no time as well as looking completely out of place. Polzeath is a prime example of vanity driven architecture, endless supplies of cash and a very shady planning department. Add estate agents and trades willing to sell their grandmothers for this week’s leased Range Rover and you have the complete annihilation of every coastal community. This place is rapidly becoming Sandbanks and it’s not pretty or clever. When will people learn that you cannot simply buy a lifestyle.”
“At first I thought, poor buggers who buy this bungalow-to-mansion conversion on the old Falmouth road will have a modern Persimmon Homes slum (in the words of a local Bobby: “Truro’s future slums we’ll have to deal with”) as a view across Arch Hill. Then you realise they won’t be alone, as the other side of Arch Hill is also being carved up with roads and housing... they kept that one quiet; whilst we all panic about a new town at Fourmilestone - just past Threemilestone - Persimmon and Cornwall Council are joining TRURO south with Calenick, Kea and Playing Place...”
“Land at Lamorran old Falmouth road. Shocking”
“Protest starts at 8.00am I think, in time to see councillors as they arrive for full council meeting.”
“Hopefully the nurses, the firemen, the police, the teachers and the doctors, who all constantly complain about being abandoned to the fast growing human elements, will join in... Do let them all know, even if they can only pop up for 30 minutes or so... they can film the Cornwall Council-inspired Highertown fresh air corridor on the way, providing first class nitrogen dioxide for our kids with a one-way ticket back to Treliske and Penmount!!”
“Yes, 8am. PLEASE, all those who feel angry and sad should attend. No good just posting your dissatisfaction.”
“Please write letters, bring photographs. They need to know just how serious we are about this betrayal of Cornwall and her people. please print off pictures, write about it if you have time and bring them to leave as evidence of their malpractice”
“I feel sorry for anyone on Old Falmouth Road tbh. One time they had a pretty nice view and quieter due to the road re-routed down arch hill. I'm convinced that if the old Newham line wasn't there they'd be trying to build further down both sides of the A39.”
“I dont feel sorry for anyone that cant be bothered to get off their arses! it hardly been done under the cover of darkness ! the destruction has been visible and pointed out by some for bloody years and its the inaction of the masses that see us in this shit ! Let’s hope the days of burying one’s head in the sand are over and people will now become angry and engaged!”
“I knew the old Farmhouse and wall was temporarily left there until they build a larger roundabout, similar to how they replaced Treluswell roundabout a couple years ago. But I'm shocked by the extra building down Arch Hill.”
“Bloody awful outlook. Talk about an urban sprawl. Makes you want to weep”
“It's not just there, it's planned across Newham, key, shops houses, surgery, so called nature reserve, which will be a little patch they leave. Also, another road somewhere. Ex LibDem guy, Matthew Taylor, invoved in a farm going in Newham with so called eco houses. Also, Truro golf courses. What we see is nothing”
“Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, formerly the great TRURO MP David Penhaligon’s research assistant, who was handed David’s parliamentary seat on a plate following the latter’s untimely death in 1986, has done nothing for his constituency other than lose support, lose his seat, lose his credibility and now working with developers and various government civil servants to flood Cornwall with unsustainable and unaffordable sh**e. Matthew Taylor is nothing but an embarrassment, a hypocrite, a freeloader, a mercenary, a government bitch and wannabe developer.... jumping into the same land-for-cash bed as Prince Charles and Lord Falmouth... No respect for him, as he has none for his former community... Shameful and disgusting, though typical of most MPs/Lords, e.g. Seb Coe and John Prescott.”
“I know someone who's bought one of the shiny new houses near the top of Arch Hill. It's falling down! The first few homes up by the Football Club were built on solid foundations, sunk deep, but all the other houses are being built on what basically amounts to concrete rafts, sitting on top of the soil... & they're being built ON A HILL!!! I can pretty much guarantee that the whole estate there is going to make the national news in a few years time, as hundreds of families are evacuated from homes that are cracking & tearing apart as they all gradually slide down the hill!”
To find out who your councilor is, check this link below; they are all due to be in a full council meeting from 10am tomorrow (Tuesday 9th July 2019); do let them know what you think of their weak, lame and apologist governance, seemingly serving their masters in corporate developer boardrooms:
https://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1
And finally, an open letter to CORNWALL COUNCIL
Dear Councillor
We consider Cornwall Council is not acting on behalf of local residents, but on behalf of developers. Indeed the council has become a developer.
One reason is because central government has cut funding the Council thinks it can make money this way. The most notorious scheme is for 3,000 homes at Langarth adding 8,000 to the population of Truro. This was done at a time when Cornwall Council is pleading poverty and cutting social services, etc.
Cornwall is seeing the largest number of house builds per population in the UK but still has 20,000 on the housing need register! Only a very small proportion of homes built in recent years are truly affordable or council home rentals. The Council defines affordable as 80% of market prices but this in unaffordable on local low wages! We need council homes for local need but the Council has failed to build more than 4 a year over the past 10 years!
We need community engagement about development and housing needs. Although some areas have Local Plans we are concerned that these are not robust and will prove meaningless. At present almost all development is developer lead for high profit!
We have concerns about the planning system and how applications which are refused by the Council are then overturned at appeal by a government-appointed planning inspector. If Cornwall Council refuses a development then the developer can appeal to an unelected planning inspector who almost always overturns the Cornwall Council decision. So there is no local democratic accountability over planning decisions.
We are seeing, mainly unsympathetic, development encroaching onto and spoiling the surroundings of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage mining sites.
We recently learned that historic Cornish hedges, an essential part of our unique landscape, are being destroyed at an alarming rate as there is no specific legislation, or apparently will, to protect them.
We have also learned that on some sites developers have started work destroying tress and hedges before planning permission has been granted – Is this a sign that developers have agreed with planning officers that they are sure to get permission?
Our countryside and coastline is being slowly covered by a concrete mess of low standard housing that don’t meet regulations, and are unaffordable.
With all this development the associated problems are not being addressed:-
Many roads are at continual gridlock with air pollution exceeding safety limit guidelines
Our main Hospital, Treliske, is on almost continual Black Alert, not helped by bed blocking due to Cornwall Council poor social care provision.
Villages and communities are dying due to the number of second houses and holiday lets.
Cornwall Council professes to be concerned about Town Centres – but it continues to approve and extend out-of-town retail space – there seems no sensible locally agreed “joined-up” thinking or planning!
We learn that Cornwall Council as well as the Government are not respecting the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCPNM) since this status was awarded to the Cornish in 2014.
In particular Article 5 states that national minorities shall be entitled to maintain and develop their culture and preserve their identity.....and cultural heritage.
Also, shall refrain from policies aimed at assimilation against their will, and in Article 16 shall not alter the proportions of the population of the minority.
Article 15 reminds the Council to create the conditions for the effective participation of national minorities in …..public affairs, in particular those affecting them.
With all this development in Cornwall and the encouragement of inward migration without true consultation the Council is not acting in line with FCPNM as it is failing to engage and consult with the Cornish people.
What are you doing to ensure that Cornwall Council respects its obligations under FCPNM?
The Council of Europe has criticised the Council and the Government for not acting sufficiently on implementation of the Convention.
We need our locally elected Councillors to engage with their communities and stand up to the developer led atmosphere at Cornwall Council and stand up for their local communities.
As someone once put it “Cornwall; externally controlled, internally run by outsiders”!
It is sad, but all the development taking place is destroying much of the scenery, culture and history of Cornwall – all in the name of short-term developer profit with no tangible benefit to the local population.
If you would like to let us know how you are addressing, or plan to to address, some of the above concerns you can contact us at cornwall.destruction@gmail.com
OR
You can engage on our Facebook page – “We Hate the Destruction of Cornwall and are ready to say it!”
This letter will be shared with the local media.
Meur ras! Thank you!