MISSING

Look at this Cornwall unitary council by-election result from St Austell the other day:
Liberal Democrat 690 votes, Conservative 675 votes, Labour 66 votes. The Libdems won the seat previously held by a Conservative. Cheers — diffugere nives — and groans — occidit, occidit — no doubt.

Look again. What do you notice? No, not the winner and losers, not Labour’s parvissimum vote. Here’s a clue. Something is missing. Someone is missing. A party is missing.

Yes, that’s right, Mebyon Kernow isn’t there.

The ‘party for Cornwall’ did not put up a candidate.
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Diffugere nives redeunt iam gramina campis
Arboribusque comae
The snows have gone and now grass comes back to the fields and leaves to the trees
HORACE Odes 4.7

Occidit, occidit
Spes omnis et fortuna nostri
All our hope and luck have gone, gone
HORACE Odes 4.4
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PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES IN CORNWALL

Here’s a list of prospective parliamentary candidates I am aware of so far for the six new Cornwall seats.

CAMBORNE AND REDRUTH
Conservative George Eustice, Labour Jude Robinson, Liberal Democrat Julia Goldsworthy MP, Mebyon Kernow Loveday Jenkin, UKIP Derek Elliot

The previous Conservative candidate for Camborne and Redruth, John Woodward, resigned 15 October 2008. Read about it here .

The Times of 25 September 2009 has an article, PR consultants who are working to become your Tory MP, which includes a reference to George Eustice.

NORTH CORNWALL
Conservative Sian Flynn, Liberal Democrat Dan Rogerson MP, Mebyon Kernow Joanie Willett, UKIP Ivor Masters

ST AUSTELL AND NEWQUAY
Conservative Caroline Righton, Labour Lee Jameson, Liberal Democrat Stephen Gilbert, Mebyon Kernow Dick Cole, UKIP Clive Medway

ST IVES AND ISLES OF SCILLY
Conservative Derek Thomas, Labour Philippa Latimer, Liberal Democrat Andrew George MP, Mebyon Kernow Simon Reed, UKIP Mick Faulkner

The MK candidate was Richard Clark but he had to leave the area for work reasons. The Green candidate was Tracy Stanton but she stepped down in November 2009 because of a change in personal circumstances.

SOUTHEAST CORNWALL
Conservative Sheryll Murray, Labour Bill Stevens, Liberal Democrat Karen Gillard, Mebyon Kernow Glenn Renshaw, UKIP Stephanie McWilliam

TRURO AND FALMOUTH
Conservative Sarah Newton, Green Lindsay Southcombe, Labour Charlotte Mackenzie, Liberal Chris Tankard, Liberal Democrat Terrye Teverson, Mebyon Kernow Loic Rich, UKIP Glen Corcoran

The previous MK candidate, Conan Jenkin, resigned because of increasing work and family commitments. Read the MK announcement here. The web has several writings by Loic Rich, just google his name.

Two current Liberal Democrat MPs, Colin Breed for South East Cornwall and Matthew Taylor for Truro and St Austell, are not standing again. The five Cornwall seats have been rejigged into six. There are three newly created seats: St Austell and Newquay; Truro and Falmouth; and Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle.

The parties have websites and details of the candidates are largely available. For example, see here for Derek Thomas and here for Philippa Latimer.

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Original post 11 May 2008.

Related post

Unitary and EU elections in Cornwall

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GOVERNMENT INTERVENES IN CORNWALL

The government is responding vigorously to Ofsted’s report on Cornwall children’s services by setting up an improvement board to oversee and help the services. The primary aim of the intervention is to ensure that the services to safeguard children in Cornwall are improved. Details are in the media statement Ministers intervene to improve Cornwall’s children’s services which is here.

The government is acting with effect and everyone should be pleased about its response. That it has come to this is shameful.

Relief at the government’s decisive intervention and a wish to see improvement made should not push away the need for a thorough and public explanation of why the council has failed to such a degree.

See here news of Cornwall council’s setting up a panel to improve children’s services, rather overtaken by the action of the Department for children, schools, and families.

CORNWALL DATA

CLICK FOR LATEST ADDED Housing waiting lists

In this ongoing post I shall bring together data about Cornwall from various sources so that they are more readily accessible: other data will be added to this current post and data will also be updated. Much is already posted at scattered places on this blog of course. All the data refers only to Cornwall and its parts (and sometimes includes and sometimes excludes the Isles of Scilly). Sources are given in square brackets; I have also included some website addresses, though these may change, so that you can explore the data for yourself. Explanatory notes with the original data are important for understanding.

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CLICK INDEX
Empty dwellings | Second homes | Average pay | Unemployment: JSA claimants | Pupil funding | Free school meals | Deprivation in Cornwall | Civil partnerships | Children born in Cornwall | Population of Cornwall | Pensioners in Cornwall | Land use in Cornwall | Cornwall MPs’ expenses and allowances | Landfill in Cornwall |School place appeals in Cornwall | Place survey 2008| House repossessions |Housing waiting lists| Miscellaneous

EMPTY DWELLINGS
There were 9012 empty dwellings in Cornwall at 6 October 2008
— Caradon 1588, Carrick 1604, Kerrier 1597, North Cornwall 1746, Penwith 1084, Restormel 1393 [Hansard 14 May 2009 columns 998W-999W].

SECOND HOMES
Cornwall (excluding Scillies) total 13 603 at October 2008
— Caradon 1813, Carrick 1917, Kerrier 1368, North Cornwall 4000, Penwith 2779, Restormel 1726 [House of Commons Library DEP 2009-1230, 27 April 2009, data is given for the five years 2004-2008].

In terms of numbers of second homes, North Cornwall is 7th out of 354 England authorities, Penwith 15th, Carrick 24th, Caradon 26th, Restormel 30th, and Kerrier 47th. These positions represent numbers of second homes not percentages of housing stock. The Isles of Scilly had 212 second homes in 2008.

AVERAGE PAY
£21 004 at April 2008
median, annual, gross, fulltime, all workers, by Cornwall and Scilly residence, at April 2008 [ONS, ASHE 2008, Table 8.7a].

There are various ways of measuring average pay, eg mean and median average, male and female and both, fulltime and part time, by place of work and by place of residence, by local authority and by constituency, weekly pay and annual pay. Figures for median average pay tend to be less than for mean average.

UNEMPLOYMENT: JOBSEEKERS ALLOWANCE CLAIMANTS
October 2009: 8336 (2.7 percent of the resident working-age population of Cornwall and Scillies). This is a rise of 232 over last month. In October 2008 the figure was 5381 (1.7 percent). The figure peaked in February 2009 at 10 220 (3.3 percent). [ONS]

The contribution-based jobseekers allowance (JSA) is £64.30 a week for people over 25 and £50.95 a week for people under 25. The jobseekers claimant count is not a measure of unemployment but of people claiming the benefit who must be, inter alia, available for work and actively seeking work.

This website gives details of jobseeker claimant counts over time for Cornwall:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1967128581/subreports/jsa_time_series/report.aspx

More data about the claimant count in Cornwall is here:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15084

These are general labour statistics for Cornwall and Scilly:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1967128581/report.aspx

The latest labour force survey data, a measure of unemployment, is for October 2007-September 2008: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1967128581/subreports/ea_time_series/report.aspx

PUPIL FUNDING
The per pupil grant from central government for Cornwall school pupils is £3879 for 2009/10; the England average is £4218 (dedicated schools grant: indicative allocations to local education authorities).
[teachernet website of the DCSF]

Earlier funding data is here:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/schoolfunding/2006-07_funding_arrangements/

The dedicated schools grant (DSG) began in 2006/07 and earlier per pupil allocations are not directly comparable. Before 2006/07 schools were funded largely through the formula grant which, apart from the DSG, is the main grant from central government to local authorities.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS
Eligibility for free school meals is an indication of income deprivation and is an influence on educational achievement.

Percentage of primary and nursery pupils eligible for free school meals, January 2009:
England 16.0 percent
Cornwall 11.0 percent

Percentage of secondary pupils eligible for free school meals, January 2009:
England 13.4 percent
Cornwall 9.3 percent
[DCSF web page Schools, pupils and their characteristics; tables 11a and 11b in 'Local authority tables'.]
The website is www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000843/index.shtml
The eligibility percentages for Tower Hamlets are 47.5 and 55.7.

The relationship of eligibility for free school meals and not gaining any GCSEs above grade D is given in DEP 2009-0918 of 19 March 2009 (Parliamentary Library).

Also see the data for deprivation below.

DEPRIVATION IN CORNWALL
There are several ways of measuring deprivation. The Index of multiple deprivation (IMD) is a major one.

The latest IMD measurements (2007) show Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly at 69th out of 142 ‘counties, cities, and London boroughs’ in England, where 1st is the most deprived. The IMD puts the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly primary care trust (CIOS) area at 74th out of 152 trust areas where 1st is the most deprived.

The IMD 2007 give these results for the former districts of Cornwall out of 354 districts in England, the score 1st is the most deprived: Penwith 36th, Kerrier 86th, Restormel 89th, North Cornwall 96th, Carrick 120th, and Caradon 156th.

IMD deprivation varies vastly across Cornwall and the measurements for 32 482 subwards in England which are available show this clearly.

See the IMD 2007 here.

The Health Observatory website here has some deprivation data for Cornwall too. Also look at the data above for free school meals in Cornwall.

CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS
Civil partnerships became possible in Britain with the coming into force of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 in December 2005. Between that date and the end of last year 307 people entered civil partnerships in Cornwall and Scillies: Table 5 of the Data by area of formation file on this ONS website.

CHILDREN BORN IN CORNWALL
The ONS published in August 2009 the latest details for England and Wales of the numbers of live births to mothers who themselves were born in the United Kingdom or born outside the United Kingdom in each of the eight years 2001-2008. The figures for Cornwall (excluding the Isles of Scilly), with much lower percentages than for England as a whole, for the first and last years of the series are:

2008: 5423 live births, 92.4 percent of which were to mothers born inside the UK
2001: 4463 live births, 94.5 percent of which were to mothers born in the UK.

The data is in tables 3a-3h on this ONS website which also gives separate figures for each of the former districts in Cornwall. [ONS]

POPULATION OF CORNWALL
The population of Cornwall in mid 2008 was 532 200. About 428 000 (80 percent) were aged eighteen or over. The full figures, including analysis for gender, ages, and districts, are in the Mid-2008 UK file on this ONS website . [ONS]

PENSIONERS IN CORNWALL
There are about 133 000 old age pensioners in Cornwall (males aged 65 and over, females 60 and over). The full figures, including for both the county and the former districts, are in the Mid-2008 UK file on this ONS website . [ONS]

LAND USE IN CORNWALL
Details of land use in Cornwall are available for the six former districts and for wards. The categories are given in square metres for domestic buildings, nondomestic buildings, domestic gardens, roads, rail, paths, greenspace, water, other, and unclassified. The tables are at Census ward levels GLUD 2005 tables . GLUD means Generalised land use database. An explanatory document of the GLUD statistics is here .

CORNWALL MPS’ EXPENSES AND ALLOWANCES
These are readily accessible at this Guardian website http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk/liberal-democrat/andrew-george. The last name in the url should be changed as appropriate to colin-breed, daniel-rogerson, julia-goldsworthy, or matthew-taylor.

LANDFILL IN CORNWALL
Cornwall 2007/08:
Total municipal waste 324 480 tonnes
Total municipal waste sent to landfill 210 386 tonnes (64.84 percent of total municipal waste)
The average proportion of municipal waste sent to landfill for the 121 unitary and waste disposal authorities in England was 54.42 percent.
[Hansard 26 October 2009 column 50W-54W]

SCHOOL PLACE APPEALS IN CORNWALL
In 2007/08 there were 277 appeals by parents against the non-admission of their child to their preferred primary school in Cornwall; 75 were successful. For secondary schools in Cornwall the figures are 405 and 151.

8183 children were admitted to Cornwall primary schools September 2007-January 2008 and 6514 to secondary schools in the same period.
[Department for children, families, and schools: here (scroll to table 3)]

PLACE SURVEY
A survey in 2008 by the Department for Communities and Local Government looked at people’s views of the locality and local services. Question 5 asked people how strongly they felt they belonged to their immediate neighbourhood. In the Cornwall area 66.5 percent said fairly or very strongly. This was 53rd out of 353 council areas, the largest percentage being at number 1.
[Department of Communities and Local Government Place survey 2008]

HOUSE REPOSSESSIONS
There was a total of 180 mortgage possession claims in Cornwall (unitary authority) in quarter 3 of 2009. This represents 0.8 households in every 1000 households and the total was a drop of 20 percent on quarter 3 of 2008. The figures for England were 23 205 mortgage possession claims, 1. 1 in every 1000 households, and a drop of 34 percent.
[Ministry of Justice12 November 2009]

HOUSING WAITING LISTS
There were 17 650 households on housing waiting lists in the six former districts of Cornwall at April 2008. In 1997 the number was 8043. The details from the Department of communities, by district and by years 1997-2008, are here.

MISCELLANEOUS
Statistics for Cornish towns is a booklet produced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The revised version is dated September 2009. It contains data about deprivation, the number and size of businesses, unemployment, and population. Read it through the South West Observatory here.The South West Observatory website also has other data.

South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) has published in October 2009 Economic profile: issue 8 which discusses Cornwall’s economy in the recession on pages 20-25. Read it here.

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General sources

ASHE Annual survey of hours and earnings (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statBase/product.asp?vlnk=13101)

DEP Deposited parliamentary papers (http://deposits.parliament.uk)

Hansard (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/home.htm)

ONS Office for National Statistics

Teachernet (http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12222)

A useful website for understanding local government language is: http://localgovglossary.wikispaces.com/
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VORSPRUNG CORNWALL 6

I shall post here continuing good news for Cornwall, developments which will positively help the people of Cornwall and the local economy and everyday lives. Everyone who wants the people of Cornwall to succeed in the modern world will welcome them. This post covers the second half of 2009. Vorsprung Cornwall 1 and 2 cover 2007, Vorsprung Cornwall 3 and 4 cover 2008, and Vorsprung Cornwall 5 covers the first half of 2009.

* Tonight, 18 November, is the festival of lights in Truro. People parade the streets, often in costume, on floats with lanterns they have made, young people to the fore. It is a newish thing for Truro but defying the winter dark with lights is as old as the hills. A joyous night, Cornwall celebrating, confident, happy.

* The Ofsted inspection of Gwinear primary school describes it as “an outstanding school.” Read the 24 October 2009 report here and note the many outstanding scores. (November 2009)

* The September festival at St Ives is now in full swing, a fortnight of music, guitars aplenty, song, drama, open art studios, and poetry recitals. The festival goes on strongly. Indeed, Cornwall has numerous festivals: for example, Trevithick day in Camborne, Golowan and Mazey day in Penzance, Obby Oss in Padstow, Run to the sun and the music festival in Newquay, the agricultural show in Wadebridge, and next month Lowender Perran in Perranporth, and many more. There is a strong celebratory and varied culture across the county. Art galleries, publicly and privately owned, everywhere in Cornwall are putting on exhibitions throughout the year.

* Business Cornwall reports that the pottery at Lelant in west Cornwall is closing as the owners are retiring but a wine shop and cafe is to open in the premises and that £480 000 is to be spent on improvements at Carn Brea Leisure Centre at Camborne. These are good stories of enterprise and investment in Cornwall when we face economic difficulties. Additionally, three gangmasters have lost their licences after an investigation into the living conditions and wages (and other matters) of some migrant workers. This is positive news that the authorities will act to protect workers and this enhances Cornwall’s reputation and supports the work of decent gangmasters. (September 2009)

* The report by John Mills into the temporary and unplanned closure of Newquay airport as it transformed into a civilian airport has now been published. There are some criticisms about management of risks and the project and some sensible recommendations for the future but nothing alarming. Mills rightly sums up the airport project as having “created a vital and excellent asset for the benefit of the whole county.” It’s important to recognise that. (August 2009)

* A parliamentary answer shows how much unsung outstanding progress has been made in council house standards in Cornwall. Three former districts, Caradon, Carrick, and North Cornwall had council houses; the other districts had disposed of theirs. In 2004 a large 46 percent of these council houses in Cornwall failed to meet the decent homes standard; in 2008 this had fallen to 7 percent. In numbers the fall was from 4964 houses to 767. That is still too many and the 2008 percentage in former Caradon, 14 percent, is much too high but government and local councils have worked well to tackle this in Cornwall and throughout England and make homes decent for people. The new unitary council must continue with this work.

The detailed data is at DEP 2009-2057 here (July 2009).

YEAH, RIGHT

Update 17 November 2009

Cornwall council has put out a media statement about waste disposal in Cornwall, Integrated waste management contract statement. It sets out the current position and does not mention EU taxes. A public inquiry looms about the St Dennis proposals and the future is very unclear and looks to be costly whatever happens.

Original post 30 March 2009

The argument about whether to build an incinerator in Cornwall for our rubbish has been settled, at least temporarily: the county council planning committee voted against on 26 March. What happens now is much more problematical as EU landfill taxes loom and there appears to be no ready-to-go alternative to an incinerator or landfill and the company may appeal against the decision to reject the incinerator.

Amid the celebrations and gloom of the decision Matthew Taylor, Libdem MP for Truro and St Austell, which includes the area earmarked for the incinerator, said the decision to reject the incinerator proposal showed that “Liberal Democrats are all about listening and democracy…”

What!

“All about listening and democracy” is a leaping generalisation too far: mia gar chelidon ear ou poiei.

As I argued in several posts here in 2007 and 2008 the Libdem-controlled Cornwall county council foisted the unitary council on us without engaging the people of Cornwall in full and open debate; refused to poll the voters of the whole county about it; was casually dismissive of the district polls that showed people didn’t want the particular unitary scheme; and obviously believed people in Cornwall shouldn’t be allowed to decide about their own local government. In short, in my view, about the unitary proposals over several months it was neither listening nor liberal nor democratic.

And now, we are assured, Libdems here are the party that listens and chooses the democratic approach.

Yeah, right.

(And let me degeneralise and say that some Libdems in Cornwall did oppose the unitary and bulldozer approach to local government change.)

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mia gar chelidon ear ou poiei (one swallow does not make a spring): Aristotle Nichomachean ethics
I cannot write Greek characters in the blog.

WHO GETS HOW MUCH

Planned total identifiable public expenditure 2008/09, per head in real terms (2007/08 prices) by UK country:
Northern Ireland £9766
Scotland £9313
Wales £8945
England £7782

There are nine regions in England; their per head planned spending ranges from £6835 (East) to £9437 (London). Only London exceeds the Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales figures. Cornwall is part of the South West region which has planned expenditure of £7225.

[Data from Table 9.4 in the UK Treasury document Public sector expenditure by country, region and function ]

These figures can be represented thus:
England 100, Wales 115, Scotland 120, and Northern Ireland 125.

Table 1.2 of the report The fiscal landscape: understanding contributions and benefits, published November 2009 by the 2020 Public services trust sets out an estimate of the percentage of total UK public spending by area and the percentage of total UK taxes received from those areas. These figures show Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland receiving a larger share of total UK spending than they contribute in revenue; for London and the Southeast of England that is reversed. The report is here.

Previous post: Don’t mention the formula
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ONE CORNWALL, MANY CORNWALLS

A report about Sheffield, A tale of two cities, makes an interesting and important point. A team from Sheffield University looked at life in two different areas of the city, Brightside (Labour MP David Blunkett) and Hallam (Liberal Democrat MP Nick Clegg). We are talking chalk and cheese, about serious inequalities between areas in the same city.

I have said often on this blog that Cornwall is not one uniform place, that life differs very much across the county, that there are Brightsides and Hallams here (see this postand this for example). It does not make sense to talk as though there is one Cornwall, disregarding signal differences, and I have indicated some of the mass of readily available evidence that shows the differences even within towns.

The talk of one Cornwall is entirely political and entirely unrelated to reality for people who live here. People who believe Cornwall is a political and national entity and should therefore have a devolved/independent government stress the oneness and tend to disregard the important differences. Cornish political nationalism totalises varying experiences and views.

What then do people who live here think?

Look at the post on the dispute in Penzance about the ferry terminal(s) there and about the wind turbines at Davidstow. Apparently not for them a one-Cornwall governing their county and lives and deciding local issues affecting them; they see that as Truro-centric. Listen to a meeting at Wadebridge on 30 October 2009 on the future of the town suggesting that people in distant west Cornwall might be indifferent about north Cornwall.

There are many Cornish identities, as there are many English identities. On the ground people rationally and emotionally identify with their immediate locality: Cornish from Padstow, Cornish from Camborne, Cornish from Troon, English from Newcastle, from Kentish Town. They also identify with other things and people, their social class and work and interests and friends, as I shall explore in a forthcoming post about identity in Cornwall. Of course, some people indeed claim a general Cornish identity and see Cornwall as their home county (or country), especially against another large identity; but to understand that properly look again at the messages from Penzance and Davidstow and Wadebridge.

Cornish political nationalism, seeing Cornish identity as a simple, monotone matter, does not sufficiently understand these complexities and lacks any comprehensive theoretical or pragmatic way of handling them.

Beyond the politicking of one Cornwall there are difficult questions of local empowerment within Cornwall. There are also important inequalities across Cornwall communities that should be tackled robustly and with effect; those are what we should focus relentlessly on, targeting the places and people of most need, and by reducing the inequalities thus make one Cornwall less of a slogan and more of a reality. Nationalism does not seem up to that task.

ICEBERGS IN CORNWALL

A dismal recital of three issues in Cornwall: health, children, budget.

Health

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its assessments of the health services in Cornwall for 2008/09. This is the commission that earlier this year took over the regulation and assessment of health services from the former healthcare commission (and social care and mental health commissions).

Once again the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT), which runs three hospitals in Cornwall, at Truro, Penzance, and Hayle, gets a mixed report. The CQC Commission has assessed it as “fair” for financial management but has judged it “weak” on quality of services, as it did for the years from 2005/06. Two questions arise: Why is the RCHT performance on the quality of services weak in assessments for four years running and how can it be turned around? No one seems able or willing to say.

It is not surprising that some staff talk of low morale and pressure.

It is unacceptable for a hospital group to get these repeated “weak” assessments. Next spring all hospitals must register with the CQC, registration will require compliance with new standards, and the CQC will get powers to intervene robustly when trusts do not meet those standards. It should ensure the RCHT, if still judged weak then, improves massively and speedily. Whatever it takes should be done.

There are grounds for hope. RCHT has just produced a five-year plan for 2010-2014: it reads excellently, acknowledging “unacceptable poor performance, particularly over the past four years” and promising “better, safer, good value care.” People in Cornwall are invited to comment on the plan.

(Note that the Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust have both received acceptable reports from the CQC for 2008/09.)

Children

More very disappointing news about another public service in Cornwall. Read here the Ofsted report of September 2009, Inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services: Cornwall Council.

The council, and government which through Dawn Primarolo said that the report “highlights fundamental weaknesses in Cornwall’s children’s services,” are no doubt working to put things right and there will be a further assessment in a while that should either reassure us or see the service taken over. However, improvements take money and the children’s services are already overspending their revenue budget; that takes me to the third iceberg.

See also Cornwall’s children’s services ‘inadequate’ in the Local government chronicle for 23 October 2009.

Budget

The new Tory leader of Cornwall Council asked for a report on the status of the unitary council’s finances for 2009/10 and thereafter. The report, Cornwall Council financial health check report August 2009, is here.

Achieved unitary savings will probably be less than forecasted; currently there is likely to be significant overspending on the revenue budget, especially on the adult social care and children’s services budgets; and the overspend for the current financial year can be met from the £18.2 million unearmarked reserves accumulated by the previous Liberal Democrat council.

There is no immediate financial crisis but the council has to tackle the issue of overspending: reserves deplete fast. That means more efficiency and productivity, cutting unnecessary spending, and reducing costs. If the intended unitary nett savings can be realised, they will lessen but not remove the difficulties. Cutting costs often turns out to be cutting services and jobs, a sorry thought.

Accompanying the publication of the report there is a media report dated October 2009 from the unitary council here. I do not know why a report made in August is published only in October though I suppose August is a month for holidays not politics.

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DISUNITARY

See the addendum at the end

ORIGINAL POST 14 October 2009

One of the arguments for a single authority for Cornwall is that Cornwall would then speak more strongly and more effectively with one voice for all the people of Cornwall.

Oh dear, it has gone wrong so quickly. Cornwall unitary council, imposed by an alliance of some local Liberal Democrats and the Labour government, is at odds with people in Penzance. The new council, now run by an alliance of Conservatives and Independents, is accused of not listening to what local people in Penzance want. Forget London-based, London-centric, the perpetual moan of the nationalists; the complaint in west Cornwall is in effect against Truro-based, Truro-centric.

This long-running row, which began when the county council existed, is basically about where the Penzance freight depot and passenger terminal of the Penzance-Scillies sea run should be. Polls have shown about three quarters of respondents in Penzance are opposed to the proposal of the unitary council. There have been vigorous comments from both sides.

Nationalists and others often cry against the centre, London-based decision-making, and urge the devolution of authority to the periphery, Cornwall. But in this dispute west Cornwall cries against Truro, where the unitary council sits, and Truro against west Cornwall. Note that this is not indigenes against adventives but a row between a new centre and a new periphery.

At present it seems not so much One and all as One and all at one another.

This dispute throws up an old question. What principles command us when government and people disagree with each other on a particular issue? It is an issue that localists tend to ignore, naively believing that devolving powers from an old centre to what turns out to be a new one dissolves problems of decision-making. In Cornwall we see it most keenly with proposals for affordable housing: often local people do not want houses that government or council, seeing the larger picture, promotes. We have seen it in the planned moving of UGI cancer surgery to a specialist centre at Plymouth. We should see it if there were to be a Cornish parliament.

In practice what usually happens when there is this disunity, this disagreement between the centre and the peripheries, between one group and another, government and governed? Not usually a referendum in Britain so not decision by numbers. Not usually automatic deference to the centre or the locality so not decision by geography. People argue and with goodwill, and sometimes abuse, an answer is thrashed out which pleases everyone or no one or most or few. Sometimes of course an issue cannot logically or physically be resolved with a compromise and one view eventually prevails, not always the most reasonable one and often, I must say, the view of those with most power or nerve or stamina. That’s how democracy works. Argument, debate, thrashing out, the struggle of reason to be heard, are all part of the process of getting to an imperfect answer. Being positive, that’s what is happening here. It is merely an awakening to the new world of shifting centres and peripheries and the realisation that to listen is not necessarily to agree.

ADDENDUM 26 October 2009

Another difficulty showing that ‘one and all’ Cornwall is problematic. Near Davidstow in north Cornwall a planning application for twenty wind turbines is opposed by many local residents, environmental and other groups, and local councillors. The local planning councillors — the East Sub-Area Planning Committee in the unitary lexicon — rejected it. However, the Cornwall Council strategic planning committee, to which it was referred, has approved it. Short of appeals, that is that.

I am not here discussing the merits of the proposal or those of the ferry terminals: I am pointing out the unsustainability of the idea that one council for all Cornwall would speak unchallenged and democratically for all Cornwall, that a one-Cornwall council would solve decision-making difficulties. There is understandable dismay in north Cornwall about what is seen as the loss of the principle that the people in an immediate area affected should decide rather than people from all over Cornwall deciding, a principle which district councils came nearer to realising and which unitary sub-area planning committees were designed for. I have discussed this in the last two paragraphs of my original Penzance ferry terminals post about who gets to decide in unitary Cornwall.

Those who advocate localism have a hard question to answer. How local is your localism?

Is Truro-centric becoming the new London-centric?