A message to those at Kremlin Kernow who persist with the Langarth ''garden village'' scam.

The sensible will stop digging, if they find themselves in a hole, but we are not dealing with sensible individuals, as the Kremlin Kernow ship of fools maintains full speed ahead on its collision course with economic reality.

The curse placed upon Langarth is working.  The project will never prosper.

This letter was sent to the government today from St. Dennis community man, Kenneth Rickard, regarding the obscene new giant housing project at Chiverton Cross (4,000+ houses), and which several developers walked away from as lacking in any coherent plan and zero sewerage infrastructure. But Cornwall Council deemed it viable to borrow £600m to continue with the doomed venture, whilst betraying the rugby fraternity (no FREE stadium for Cornwall) and spending 100x the land value (£36m) on a few parcels of farmland, all advised on by part-time, Bristol-based "planning consultant", John Betty, who himself managed to relieve Council coffers of £2m; this sum was found by councillors to be unauthorised, unsigned for, unexplained and as yet not refunded to the council and taxpayers; his friend, Cornwall Council CEO, Kate Kennally, did not comment.  

Dear Secretary of State, for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Michael Gove,

Cornwall Council’s Employed Officers Standard of Conduct in proceeding with the Langarth Garden Village Project PA 20/0931.

I introduce myself as a ninety year old Cornishman who has lived in Cornwall all my life and have always had an interest in the county’s administration, and the level of governance it delivers,  During that time I have never experienced the questionable standard of governance I have witnessed with Cornwall Councils involvement in the above project. Prior to planning approval the project had travelled a very chequered path involving speculators ideas and various promises none of which ever materialised. The council’s involvement in 2020 has caused and is still causing serious concerns to council tax payers and elected members alike, all of which questions the conduct of the present authority’s senior employed officers and their use of tax payers money which, in my opinion, are dubious land purchase transactions involved with the above project. Senior employed officers conduct has, in my opinion, lacking accountability and transparency outstripped their responsibilities by failing to discharge their dedicated powers in a correct and ethical manner. This also questions these officers allegiance to the Nolan Principles  of Standards in Public life, surely a damming indictment. 
This project, which no one wants except the council’s senior officers, presents many adversities, does not address Cornwall’s social housing needs. Controversy seems to follow all aspects of the project including the fact that elected members, the voice of the people, were not made aware or played any part in the decision making of financial details of transactions involving land purchases, an issue which prevented their known opposition to the project being publicly made known. This situation which, in my opinion ignores democratic process.
 
A serious concern of council tax payers and elected members is that this project will be managed by the same senior employed officer team which managed the diabolical financial mess of the Saints CycleTrail project, which your Westminster officials are well aware of.

A significant controversial issue has involved Cornwall Council’s purchase of parcels of farmland from different owners and speculators, one being the purchase, in 2020,  of one hundred acres of farm land from one speculator for thirty six million pounds, (£360,000 per acre) and another purchase that involved paying over one million pounds for just one acre of farmland associated with a covenant restricting progress. These transactions occurred during the secondment of a consultant, who was brought in by the chief executive without members knowledge or approval, which did not meet with approval by many including council tax payers and elected members. Another controversial issue is that the council has spent over £400,000 on legal costs on this project which does appear to be not compatible with normal land purchases of this kind made at the time, this has never been clarified.
These extremely high prices paid for these parcels of land far exceeded normal farming land prices many times over have created serious concerns and suspicion, and in my opinion, does suggests that maladministration has taken place.   
 
We now find that the envisaged problems with the project have now surfaced with Cornwall Council facing with a situation where it has spent in the region of £60 million including  legal fees, as far as council  tax payers have been made aware of, to acquire only 65% of the land required to complete the project, meaning that the expenditure so far was in real terms a gamble of a significant amount of public money, a situation which could place a financial burden on present and future council tax payers for many years. The fact remains that 35%`of the land required has not been purchased, leaving the present owner in a position of being able to withhold any sale as a bargaining tool, which in effect is that the present owner has the council over the preverbal ransom barrel if it wants to continue with the project. A situation which Cornwall Council officers have blindly walked into, apart from that they have failed to engage in positive discussions with the that land owner. It is understood that Cornwall Council is considering applying for Compulsory Purchase Orders, even if this was successful or not it would still involve considerable sums of taxpayers money. We also know that legal advice (copy attached) has shown that the CPO path would not be successful as the project does not met the required criteria regarding local communities benefit.

Finally, and in my opinion, because of the management path the senior employed officers of Cornwall,Council have taken in proceeding with the Langarth Garden Village project (PA 20/ 0931)  their questionable conduct and use of taxpayers money, does leave an open door for suspicion and doubt that collusion and maladministration has taken place. This issue can only be democratically determined by a public Inquiry or similar investigation, a route I sincerely hope your responsibilities will follow.

I have included below selection of names of council tax payers who support this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Kenneth Rickard,                               
12 Trelavour
St. Dennis,
Cornwall PL26 8AR
01726 822636

It's all been too much for Cornwall Council's top lawyer who just walks away:

Cornwall Council’s top lawyer has resigned.  Mel O’Sullivan and her family are leaving Cornwall to start a new life in Australia.

Ms O’Sullivan joined the council, initially as an interim Monitoring Officer, five years ago.

The job is one of the few posts which, within the power-hierarchy at County Hall, can challenge chief executive Kate Kennally if leading political figures are reluctant to do so.  At one stage Ms O’Sullivan was the second-highest paid member of staff.

Ms O’Sullivan’s tenure has seen her deal with some fascinating and awkward questions.

In 2019 the then-ruling Liberal Democrat-Independent administration wanted to convene an extraordinary meeting for the sole purpose of electing a committee chair who would get paid an extra £8,000 per year.  Ms O’Sullivan questioned the probity of the move given that the committee had no other work to consider.

In 2020 she was drawn into a constitutional wrangle over whether she alone should be allowed to define the word “reasonable” in relation to the controversial £150 million, 30-year Mears contract for extra care housing.

More recently she upset some Conservative cabinet members when she agreed to “call-in” for review and reconsideration their decision to close Falmouth leisure centre.

One of the most delicate judgements has concerned the appointment of Ms Kennally’s wife, Rachael Rothero, to a senior management job worth £100,000 a year.

The council has refused to discuss the recruitment process, claiming it is confidential, but it is difficult to see how County Hall could be confident it had complied with the Nolan Principles of standards in public life without consulting its Monitoring Officer.

Ms O’Sullivan’s departure means she will miss the constitutional kaleidoscope  which will be part of any package involving the change of governance to replacing the council’s political role with a directly-elected mayor.

The Monitoring Officer post has not yet been advertised but is thought to attract a salary which is typically in excess of £100,000 per year.

Cornwall Reports has asked the council for a comment about Ms O’Sullivan’s resignation but has received no reply.

One commentator relating to Langarth chief culprit, Phil Mason, wrote:

"Interesting rumours on Friday night from people at Kremlin Kernow; the most loathed man in Cornwall is feeling the heat and may soon be leaving/resigning/sacked. Could CEO Kate Kennally be using the blinkered Phil Mason as a scapegoat? Could he be jumping before he’s pushed? Could councillors be tempting him with a beautiful armour and gold-plated handshake? Monday may bring us more answers…
But huge relief as presumably, if he goes, his vainglorious and bewildering projects die with him."
 

Meanwhile, in SewerageLands, Hayle:

The absolute bullshit that these slippery, greedy environmental vandals peddle to sell their overpriced shacks, really does beggar belief:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY4Asdy_mpg