A self-explanatory mail to the council, re. millions of pounds of tax payers’ cash being thrown around without proper authorisation:

From: Kevin Bennetts
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2019 10:22:09 AM
To: Freedom of Information Mail <foi@cornwall.gov.uk>
Subject: Points raised by Cornwall Council Auditors.

Dear Sir or Madam

With regard to the recent disturbing revelation by external auditors that £53 million of unauthorised exemption spending on contracts has occurred within Cornwall Council’s administration system.

Would you kindly inform me:

1 What actual contacts were involved including values of each?

2 Who made the decisions to pay for these contracts?

3 What (if any) sanctions does Cornwall Council propose to apply to those found responsible for these unauthorised actions.

4 What actual measures do Cornwall Council propose to take in order to ensure that the highlighted fraud risk mentioned by the auditors is eliminated.

Yours faithfully,
Kevin Bennetts
Geor Chapel
Gwennap
TR16 6BN

A response below to Cornwall Councillor (St. Ives), Andrew Mitchell, by a concerned resident in Truro:

“Andrew

Where I appreciate both, your responses here and your obviously genuine efforts to support Cornish communities - my earlier tough comments re. a “lack of professionalism, ethics, transparency and integrity" were generic and aimed at the senior officer “shadows” around CC, and not at you personally - I nonetheless question the connection between your well-intentioned aims and the reality.

Whilst posting your responses, you’ve still completely failed to address any of my specific points and accusations, that I made earlier.

You (read: the council) had so many opportunities to put real community housing in many Cornish towns, for so many years, not least in Truro, but have spectacularly failed to build any; yet Community Land Trusts everywhere seem to be trying so hard to do this (without that much success), when YOU should be doing it; why the disconnect?

With the council’s integrity in question and so many lost opportunities, how do we trust any further urban “mess” the council plans now, when so many repeated lies and U-turns have been made in the past?

Look at what happened at the old Richard Lander School site: the council promised not to sell this to a developer (it was even reported in the press!); the council could’ve put so many council homes or Treliske staff housing there, with surgeries, a park, a shop, a nursery, a community hall, a sports facility, and all within walking distance of Truro and Treliske hospital; the reality?
The council failed, lacked any planning or long term strategy, deceived locals, broke its recent promises, sold the land to Taylor Wimpey, and created another mass, unsustainable and unaffordable executive estate with zero facilities, but in the process created yet another substandard construction and future policing problem, alongside one of the worst air pollution issues in the country at Highertown, thanks to now ridiculous levels of congestion.

Hence (y)our Chief Planner’s words last year: Truro’s western corridor (from Treliske to Chiverton) is a mess.

From the Langarth debacle expensively unfolding before us, it seems that lessons have NOT been learnt and the mess is set to get even bigger.

Does it not ring alarm bells when 40 of your council colleagues, some from the area you’re about to massacre - Truro - actually voted against the proposals to borrow £600m more (again, taking from our kids’ future), despite a large dose of (misguided) rugby intimidation present in the public gallery, corridors and council lobby? That’s equivalent to one in three voting against this financial ticking time bomb of potentially catastrophic consequences. What do they (the 40) know or understand that you don’t, going so strongly and defiantly against the grain?!

Does it not bother you that all bar one of the developers and retailers pulled out of the scheme years ago due to the potentially disastrous high costs of developing in the middle of nowhere, with no (sewerage) infrastructure and next to a congestion black spot (Chiverton), and that the only “company” that didn’t do so, was seriously questioned by your colleague, portfolio holder and cabinet member, Bob Egerton, who effectively called them out in all but name as a non-existent profiteering cowboy?

Does it not bother you that SWW have repeatedly stated since 2017 that sewerage is now “broken”, flooding is a growing risk and that no provision for sewage and runoff water at Langarth exists?

Does it not concern you that this massive environmentally destructive “project” comes on the back of the council declaring a climate change emergency?

Does it not worry you that very little, if any, of the development you suggest will be either affordable or able to tackle the growing local housing lists?

Does it not ring any alarm bells that your own council website, since 2015, highlights nine areas in Cornwall with higher than acceptable air toxicity levels (Air Quality Management Areas or AQMAs), with Truro being one, and yet you’re potentially adding massively to this damage to people’s health, right outside a hospital that hasn’t coped for years, and according to its own staff at every level, is on the verge of collapse, both in terms of the physical structure and of its services?

You talk endlessly about the NAR (road) into the back of the P&R, but with thousands of new cars parked on the new “farm estates” between Treliske and Chiverton, will one new access road to this new town not be akin to adding a plaster to someone’s shark bitten leg. And at what cost? Originally meant to be paid for by developers for an access road to their new estates; now, maybe, by the government, but more likely by part of the loan we’re all taking out. Sounds like a great deal... not!

Are you not concerned by millions’ worth of council cash - our cash - been signed off by senior and temporary officers, without proper authorisation, or that the auditors have now declared Cornwall council a potential fraud risk?

You may come from Penwith but does it not worry you when Cornwall and city councillors who’ve lived and worked in our city all their lives tell you that this ill-founded project outside our city is an unmitigated disaster in the making?

Again, you may originate from St. Ives, but I live and work in my city, my kids go to school here, my older kids live and work here and yet all our lives, as well as those of our friends and family in Truro and Falmouth, have been worsening from the permanent and irreversible damage the developers have unleashed on our small towns and villages, seemingly with our council’s complicity and blessing. It’s heartbreaking and frustrating, if not outright infuriating.

You and the large majority of Cornwall councillors have no idea what it was like to live in Truro decades ago, what it’s like to live there today, and are especially clueless as to what lies ahead. Meanwhile, and whilst you and I put up with the increasing collapse in quality of life and loss of community cohesion amongst this sprawling urban mess (Phil Mason’s words), the likes of John Betty and many other senior officers, consultants and developer agents and executives will be long gone from the chaos and debt they’ve helped force through, against the wishes of 99.9% of the local population. Some Local Plan indeed.

It is not I who refuses to see or listen, Andrew, in fact quite the opposite. I’ve listened and watched so much that I now seriously worry about this huge sand castle collapsing due to a complete lack in foundations.

I’m afraid I fear it may be you that has been railroaded into a scheme you only ever half believed in, but that even though you’re starting to see the bigger picture outside the council officers’ clever bubble, you feel this is now irreversible and so try your hardest to convince, maybe not me, but yourself that actually, it’s a good thing. Reading you here tells me that deep down, you don’t fully believe this to be a good idea really, but don’t know how to change course.

Sadly, you and I, and our Cornish communities will have to live with the consequences, financial, social and environmental for a very long time ahead, as will our kids and probably way beyond them even.

I’m very, very sad at the reality of the council’s lack of vision, integrity and honesty which creates this monster and rips the heart out of our communities.

Please rethink and reconsider before the Betty mirage turns this fiasco into a total nightmare.”

Meanwhile, back in Threemilestone Councillor Dulcie Tudor country:

“Councillor found in breach of code of conduct for protest remark”

https://cornishstuff.com/2019/08/20/councillor-found-in-breach-of-code-of-conduct-for-protest-remark

Finally, we have been asked to circulate the following communication for your information from Cornwall 4 Change (C4C), an organisation made up of Town and Parish Councillors and supporters in the main. Cornwall’s residents are warmly welcomed to attend :

I am writing today firstly to apologise on behalf of Cornwall for Change that we have not replied to the offer/plan you kindly presented to us earlier this year. We were very grateful for you taking the time to present your proposals to us.

In all honesty C4C has, due to a number of understandable issues for it’s members gone through a quiet period or as one of my colleagues put it “a political slumber”, however we have now had a meeting and are looking to re-invigorate the group and re-capture it’s previous enthusiasm & commitment. I suppose all groups hit a “wall” of this kind at some stage.

We are looking to move forward and encourage new enthusiastic members to join in the fight.

Unfortunately due to this we were not in a position to properly consider your proposals and a way forward. However, everyone at C4C agrees that we cannot fight the political and financial juggernauts which are Westminster and Cornwall Council alone and working closely with other groups provides the best chance of any real success in preventing the disastrous journey Cornwall appears to be embarked on and it’s inevitable consequences.

To this end C4C is currently putting together a proposal for a public meeting to be held as soon as possible on a subject which has an impact of the vast majority of the population of Cornwall at some point. The discussion of this particular issue will doubtless lead on to its causes and hopefully provoke enough “feeling” to encourage more action from the general public. To achieve the best results and in line with a spirit of co-operation we wish to include both KMTU and CS in the planning. We propose a planning meeting to include representatives of all interested groups on the 27th August 2019 in Chacewater Village Hall, Kilifreth Room 7pm. We will work to provide a basic action plan at the meeting on the 27thwhich can be discussed and enhanced as necessary.

This would also be an opportunity to discuss future combined efforts between the groups including communication etc.

I hope both KMTU and CS will be interested in meeting with us to discuss this plan and also promote the combined efforts of all interested local groups in future.

Once again I sincerely apologise for not replying sooner, no slight was intended as this was a C4C issue. Please pass on our apologies to your members.

I look forward to hearing from you

Kind regards