If you live in Perranarworthal, Hayle, Bodmin, Perranporth, Falmouth & Budock, Truro/Treliske, St. Day, Newquay, St. Austell, St. Ives/Carbis Bay and probably several more sites around the Duchy, you would be right to be concerned about morally bankrupt, biased, corrupt, ludicrous, unethical, damaging and irrational decisions made by YOUR planning department (under lockdown!!) every day.
Just take a quick 5 minutes tour around this site where genuine & rational grievances are aired, and then you’ll understand better when you’re the next “nimby” trying to get your head around how some out-of-town unscrupulous developer has worked with the council planning department behind your back for months (all funded by council taxes) to plan the new horror show in your village or market town.
www.facebook.com/groups/2231030427120239
It is high time Kate Kennaly - with already a highly dubious past at London’s Barnet Council before her even more dubious 200k pa appointment at Cornwall Council - and Phil Mason, the grim concrete reaper of Restormel and Cornwall over the past 20 years, were unceremoniously sacked from positions they simply do not understand and are unable to properly manage, i.e. serving the local population with adequate and clean services, NOT working with corporate developers to ruin the Duchy physically, aesthetically, socially and environmentally. These people are expensive pen pushers who are well past their sell by dates and were probably always in above their heads, following these questionable appointments.
But will they jump before they are embarrassingly pushed from these lucrative jobs which they have so spectacularly failed at?
With a growing number of Judicial Reviews to deal with, costing Cornish taxpayers more and more from their own shrinking personal finances, surely the pressure on these hapless civil servants will soon become too great to continue with the concrete status quo?!
One recent and classic example of Cornwall Council’s crass arrogance, self-interest and basically, corrupt behaviour:
“If we believe a wrong has been done, we should aim to correct it. Perhaps it’s just me who sees an issue here!
This is how important decisions that affect ordinary people are arrived at across Cornwall. If this is the way it works, it is of little surprise that big projects such as Langarth near Treliske, cause such controversy, mistrust and suspicion amongst the public!”
“As the Chairman of Gwennap Parish Council, I have a matter to bring to your attention, that has been bothering me for some time and through a recent FOI request, I now have the information required to confirm a significant breach of the Gwennap Parish Council Code of Conduct, The Cornwall Council Code of Conduct and the Seven Principles of Public Life. I believe that the participation of Councillor Sue Patton, our former Chairperson, in a debate and vote during 17th December 2020 Parish Council meeting, when discussing a Planning Application, ref PA 20/09415 Rum Maturation Facility on the Banger Track, created a situation where there occurred a direct and major breach of Section 5A(b)(1) of the Gwennap Parish Council Code of Conduct and a breech of Section 5A(b)(1) of the Cornwall Council Code of Conduct and the duty to uphold the Law, as referred to in the Seven Principles of Public Life.
The aforementioned Code of Conduct can be found in the Code of Conduct documents sent to all Councillors on 15th November 2020 by the then Chair and subject of this matter, as a reminder of our responsibilities, as laid out within the Code of Conduct.
I refer you to the wording – "The following table sets out the disclosable pecuniary interests that have been prescribed by the Secretary of State for the purposes of The Code of Conduct and Localism Act 2011. Section 5(b)(1). Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.
Councillor Patton had identified her employment by Cornwall Development Company (owned by Cornwall Council) and her secondments to Cornwall Council as disclosable interests in the Gwennap Parish Council Register of Interest. It may be that a clever legal mind, can find imaginative ways of interpreting the wording in the above, in particular, the word “prescribed”.
I have consulted, amongst others, Blacks Law Dictionary and I believe that where one’s employment is concerned, it confirms that the decision to declare an interest, or not, is not a matter of discretion. Over and above that, there is the moral issue and that there was no reason that Councillor Patton needed to partake in the discussion or vote on PA20/09415, other than to influence the Council’s decision. A decision upon which she clearly had a significant influence, by using her vote to bring about a situation where there were 3 votes for and 3 against the proposal, with her having the casting vote as Chairman, leading to the decision to support the proposal on a 4-votes to 3 decision.
The voting record can be seen in the approved minutes of the virtual meeting of 17th Dec 2020.
I have written evidence that on more than one occasion, I had challenged Councillor Patton on her Pecuniary Interest in the matter, but she had decided that there was none. The interest that existed, was that Cornwall Development Company, the employers of Councillor Patton, have a commercial Connection with the applicant, or applicant’s company/agent, for PA20/09415, as identified by my Freedom of Information request to CDC and to which the Assistant Company Secretary for Corserv, gave confirmation to me in writing on 19th January 2021. This commercial connection is directly linked to the Rum application, as without the success of this application the applicant, applicant’s company/ agent would not continue to be a client of CDC and would not continue to be a contributor to the revenue for CDC.
A continuing revenue stream has a direct bearing on the viability of CDC and the ability of CDC to fund the wages of CDC staff, which includes Councillor Sue Patton. I believe this constitutes an obvious Pecuniary Interest and whose declaration as such is what I believe to be fully in line with the spirit of the Act. I would like to respectfully request that Gwennap Parish Council convenes an urgent virtual meeting to take action to correct the unfortunate situation that has been allowed to arise.”
As one observer states:
“TRANSPARENCY IS VITAL BECAUSE PLANNING MATTERS MUST NOT APPEAR TO BE DEALT WITH ON A NOD AND A WINK.
NOT EVER - NEVER.
Serious allegations such as those made below must be faced up to and examined in intimate detail.
If the person alleged to be in breach has done nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear, but such matters should never be swept under the carpet as they often appear to be as a matter of expediency.
Cornwall Planners and senior council officers are currently neither trusted or respected.
This situation is utterly unacceptable because they should never create a climate of suspicion due to their actions not being fully transparent, at all times.
This appalling state of affairs must change.
Legal Definition of malfeasance. : the commission (as by a public official) of a wrongful or unlawful act involving or affecting the performance of one's duties —
synonyms:
deceit · deception · duplicity · lying · falseness · falsity · falsehood · untruthfulness · fraud · fraudulence · sharp practice · cheating · chicanery · craft · cunning · trickery · artifice · artfulness · wiliness · guile · double-dealing · underhandedness · subterfuge · skulduggery · treachery · perfidy · unfairness · unjustness · improbity · rascality · untrustworthiness · dishonour · unscrupulousness · corruption · criminality · lawlessness · lawbreaking · misconduct · crookedness · shadiness · foxiness · dirty tricks · kidology · shenanigans · monkey business · funny business · hanky-panky · jiggery-pokery · monkeyshines · codology · management · knavery · knavishness
Separately, and if you haven’t already done so, please support this lady’s brave stand against seriously flawed and if not inept, then deliberately malicious actions by Southwest Water in cooperation with Cornwall Council in Hayle:
www.gofundme.com/f/helping-mel-sheridan-in-her-battle-4-justice