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.

__________________________________________________________

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.

__________________________________________________________

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/
_______________________________________________________

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).

HOUSING THE PEOPLE IN CORNWALL

A disturbing but constructive and excellent report on housing, Mind the gap, has just been published. Read it here.

Mind the gap points out that we need many, many more houses for new households and to replace ageing houses. It recounts how in the past thirty years we have failed to build enough and now have a grotesque backlog, worsened by the economic difficulties which cripple construction and, unnecessarily, shut off mortgages. Belatedly the Labour government has recognised this backlog and its abysmal housing failure and has provided a deal of money for new housing and mortgages: see the table on page 16 of the report which totals more than £13 billion, assuming no overlap or recycling.

One of the reasons for failure to build for people is other people. On page 8 there is a telling survey which shows most people supporting more houses and simultaneously opposing them in their area.

For Cornwall the report presents difficult questions.

Mere opposition to 70 000 new houses here, as proposed by the Regional Development Agency, is insufficient. There were about 18 000 households on the affordable housing waiting lists of Cornwall councils at 1 April 2008: see the data from the Department for communities here . At the current rate of building it will take a depressingly and scandalously long time to house everyone on it today and new people are registering all the time. The opponents must consider the evidence on present housing need and projections and say how the need in Cornwall, now and in the future, can be met.

Too much time has been spent — wasted — fuming at second homes. Whatever one thinks about them, an irrelevancy or a drain, energy should now be put into supporting ambitious house building programs for rent and for purchase by local people: that should be the unrelenting focus. It does not mean opposing housing for migrants to Cornwall or “unaffordable” housing.

In all this there has to be practicality and viability and change if we are to succeed. For example, there are not enough brownfield sites in Cornwall to meet need and we have to accept some incursions into fields. If we wish to avoid mono-tenure estates and secure mixed-tenure housing developments, which are cohesive not divisive, we have to relax the present rules about where private houses can be built.

What is needed now is a positive response from people and parties and groups in Cornwall.
___________________________________________________________

A previous post on housing in Cornwall:
Affordable housing in Cornwall
_____________________________________________________________

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN CORNWALL

I have already looked at Labour’s failure on child poverty. Now another important and dismal failure: housing waiting lists. On 1 April 1997 there were 8 124 households on the public housing waiting lists for housing in Cornwall. In 2008 there were 17 728. The figures are here and the explanatory notes should be read, especially note 1.

This increase is not unique to Cornwall; there are increases across England. It isn’t down to second homes, or empty houses, or the increase in household formation, or any of the litany of excuses: it is at bottom a failure to build enough houses for rent and purchase that local people can afford, a failure by a government in effect indifferent to such housing and lacking the resolve to push for it, and councils timid about nimby ire. Public housing has been neglected by the Labour government. The numbers being built are pitiful. There has been a lack of will, a failure of determination, much talk and few houses. Is housing and child poverty the “failure that topples all our success”?

Finance for affordable housing is difficult and there has been a notable lack of imagination in realising new schemes for making land acquisition and building and rent and purchase feasible. There has been insufficient will. The government should think of letting councils keep the housing receipts to finance the building of new houses.

Why does it matter?

People need houses to rent and to buy at a price they can afford. Put aside for the moment notions of fair play and social justice and even interdependency, it’s in our own interests to ensure people have a roof over their heads. People more easily believe they have a stake in their community and are less alienated from society and more socially minded if they have decent place to live. It pays us to ensure people are housed well. Children, the people who will work tomorrow and create the wealth and pay the taxes for our pensions and health service and roads, deserve better than third rate, insecure accommodation. They have the best chance of flourishing and growing up straight in a loving and stable home with a sense of being important to their family and their society. A decent, permanent house is part of that. It pays us to ensure children have a decent house to grow up in.

A decent place to live is also necessary ground for an autonomous life, a resource and right of positive freedom. People do not become independent, rational, self-realisers without the means to education and health and housing. For most of us society makes possible the circumstances wherein we might live with independence and dignity.

Affordable houses and child and adult poverty: key matters where Labour has let us down and where Conservatives are unlikely to seriously try to succeed.

We mustn’t give up in Cornwall or anywhere on building much more affordable housing. In Cornwall we should explore whether the new council should seek to build and own some housing; who provides isn’t a question of dogmatism but of what mix delivers best for people in need of a home. We mustn’t abandon those local people struggling to get a house. There has to be more determination and imaginative intelligence and I hope that the government even at this late time and the new unitary council will have those in spades, though the latter has set a cautious and unchallenging target.
_________________________________________________________

“a failure that topples all our success”: John Steinbeck The grapes of wrath

_________________________________________________________

PAY AND HOUSING IN CORNWALL

Original post 3 January 2009. Note on average pay in Cornwall added 30 April 2009.

The economic crisis hits many people in Cornwall (and elsewhere) hard. Look at just two aspects of life here. The mean average pay in Cornwall is about seventy five percent of the UK average according to the GMB trade union. ASHE data for 2008 suggests around eighty percent. County averages encompass a large range and also variations among different and smaller subareas but they can be useful and limited guides. House prices in Cornwall are high (with the same caveat about range and variations). Affordable housing thus matters to local people looking for a home.

Look a little more closely at housing and pay.

We need many more affordable houses to be built throughout Cornwall – to rent and to buy. The Labour government has failed appallingly over the last decade to push house building. It talked houses but little got built, affordable or open market. This isn’t likely to change now as finance and the economy seize up unless the government and local councils are pushed very hard. I fear the economic crisis is more likely to see the shortage of affordable housing in Cornwall continue.

In our low wage economy, Labour’s minimum wage has been a godsend to many in Cornwall. Now we are hearing arguments that the minimum wage should be frozen at the present rate during the economic crisis. Of course, the wage has to be affordable by employers, an unaffordable wage bill puts firms out of business or leads to firings, but I remember that the national minimum wage was brought in to a background of miswarnings about unaffordability and job losses, Tory opposition, and Liberal Democrat nonsense.

Happily, the local Liberal Democrats are now firm in their support for it. However, the Tories now seem to be ready to see the minimum wage end.

It is unacceptable that those at the bottom of life’s financial heap should suffer further and unnecessarily financially. Labour’s record on poverty is patchy with its disastrous abolition of the 10 pence tax rate and its inexplicable failure to take the poor out of income tax altogether, two kick-the-poor policies, on the negative side. There are welcome signals that the guilty government does not support a freeze on the national minimum wage.

The minimum wage is £5.73 an hour at present for those over twenty two; that is modest pay.

Here is how we give real recognition to the people of Cornwall in this economic crisis:

We should build many more affordable houses in Cornwall, social housing for rent and low-cost housing to buy, because many people here, who cannot buy on the open market, need them and building provides jobs and funnels money into the local economy. The minimum wage, a lifeline to many in Cornwall, should increase normally because industry and commerce can afford it, the wage funnels money into the economy, and the poor and low paid should never be held down but always helped up.

Note on average pay in Cornwall

I put below the median average pay taken from ASHE table 8.7a for 2008: it is the gross annual pay for fulltime workers based on residence by local authority area in Cornwall.

There are numerous figures for average pay: median average pay, mean average pay (higher than median because of some very large salaries), and median and mean figures based on workplace as well as on place of residence, fulltime or part time work, male or female workers, or all; and based on residence and workplace by local authority and by constituency; and of course pay that is not simply gross.

Average pay, eh?

Anyway, here are the ASHE figures for Cornwall for annual gross median average, residence-based by local authority, full time working, for 2008: £21 004. Divided by fifty two that’s about £404 a week.

As I’ve said at the beginning of this post and indeed often about statistics, the figures vary across Cornwall

Previous ASHE data is here.

ASHE: Annual survey of hours and earnings

________________________________________________

See here for an earlier post about the minimum wage in Cornwall

Additamentum:
See this Guardian article of 6 January 2009 about the low rate of construction.

________________________________________________

LOCALISM IN CORNWALL: UPDATE

See additamentum at end

ORIGINAL POST 21 July 2008
I have pointed out in previous posts that localism, devolving power to localities, can raise difficulties.

Two recent unconnected stories from Cornwall make the point.

In Illogan the local council has objected to new houses.

In Penzance some people have objected to a housing program for vulnerable people. The website of Providers of Accommodation and Services (PAS), the organisation involved with the Penzance story, explains that it has twenty two properties in Penwith district, housing almost one hundred vulnerable people. In the rest of Cornwall it has nine properties housing fifty nine people. Let me be clear: I think the work done by PAS (and its fellow, CTE) should be wholeheartedly supported. Penwith district council seems to have gone into constructive partnership with these organisations as a result of central government policy.

You can read more details of the Illogan story here Time has come to say ‘No more homes’ and the Penzance story here Dismay at council programme for alcoholics.

Of course new houses in numbers should be accompanied by improvements in infrastructure (and ideally amenities and more jobs) and housing for vulnerable people should be located carefully. However, with those provisos, both stories of opposition are depressing. This is what localism, empowering communities, can mean. Those who cheerily advocate more local powers, more decision making locally, should discuss the possibility that neighbourhood values might jar.

Additamentum 7 August 2008:
See this account of 6 August of a public meeting in Penzance about the scheme: Uproar at housing meeting.
____________________________________________________

See here for details of the organisations involved with the housing for vulnerable people

See here for the account by Penwith district council of its partnership with Charles Terence Estates (CTE) and Providers of Accommodation and Support (PAS) in housing vulnerable single people.

.

VORSPRUNG CORNWALL 3

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 2008 from January to June 2008. Vorsprung Cornwall 1 and 2 cover 2007.

* For several months people have been fund raising for a proposed children’s hospice in Cornwall: the nearest one at present is in north Devon. Now Howard and Shirley Rosevear have given land near St Austell as a site for the hospice. This will be for children from Cornwall and Plymouth.

You can read this heart-warming story here in the Western Morning News for 25 June. There are good people in Cornwall.

* June 2008. The government is contributing £34 million as part of transport improvements for the regeneration of the Redruth-Pool-Camborne area. In all the regeneration project is intended to produce 2300 new jobs and six hundred homes.
(Source: egov monitor Rosie Winterton announces £34 million transport improvements for Cornish regeneration area)

* May 2008. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published data for individual institutions about MRSA and C difficile deaths. The data comes with caveats. For the period 2002-06 the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust performed creditably in this difficult sphere: better than average for the listed institutions for C difficile and average for MRSA.

* 13 April 2008. There’s an upbeat article in the Observer describing Penzance as now the premier art place in Cornwall and a place to visit and enjoy. Perhaps Penzance is beginning to see a cultural and economic resurgence and outshine St Ives. (Source: Observer 13 April 2008 Penzance turns regeneration into a fine art)

* April. The county record office at Truro has begun to put its parish tithe maps and their accompanying apportionment/survey books onto compact disks. This will save the original printed maps from wear and tear, will make them available in a more user-friendly format than microfiche, and make the survey books more easily searched. Additionally, the record office is selling the disks (map and survey book) for £20. This is excellent news for everyone interested in local and family history in Cornwall.

* In Cornwall in 2007/08 £3.362 million was spent on warm front measures for vulnerable households. The details are here , look for DEP 2008-0881.xls for 17 March 2008.

* March 2008. Caradon district council is receiving £5.95 million for affordable housing from the first round of the national affordable housing program 2008/09. This will build ninety six houses in the district and create a care village for the elderly out of the the Passmore Edwards hospital in Liskeard. This is capital news and a significant help to people there in need of affordable housing. Rejoice. Read more here . (NOTE. The original article is no longer available online but the cached version is still available: type “caradon £6m affordable housing” into google and open the cached version.)

* There has been a significant improvement in waiting times for NHS hospital patients in Cornwall. The figures are subject to caveats and fluctuations but the waiting time for all specialties for patients still waiting for hospital admission in the period ending March 2007 in Cornwall and Isle of Scilly primary care trust (CIOSPCT) was 7 weeks; March 1997 in the corresponding Cornwall and Isles of Scilly health authority (CIOSHA) it was 12.9 weeks.

Examples of reductions in the specialties are cardiology with 4.6 weeks at March 2007 and with 14.6 weeks at March 1997; gynecology 7.2 weeks and 13 weeks; and ophthalmology 7.2 and 17.7 weeks.

With all the caveats these are impressive reductions.

You can read the details and the data explanations and caveats in Hansard 27 February 2008, columns 1754W-1756W.

* The figures for breast and cervical cancer screening show that in the area of the present Cornwall and Isles of Scilly primary care trust the screening program is being well used and is reaching a high proportion of women. We are slightly higher in percentage reach than the average for England in cervical screening. In breast screening the proportion of eligible women who have attended screening here was higher than the England average in the last given year, 2005-2006, a very large improvement over two years previously when Cornwall was way below the England average. The lives of women in Cornwall are being saved through timely screening. (Hansard 31 January 2008, columns 596W-602W and 618W-624W.)

* 30 January 2008. The EU investment program, called by the unromantic name of the Convergence program, now begins in Cornwall and will make available about £300 million over the years 2008-2013, plus £140 million from the British government.This is in effect a ‘continuation’ of the 2000-2007 Objective One program which made about £350 million available to Cornwall.

* 25 January 2008. The Healthcare Commission has published the results of its assessment of 148 maternity units. The assessment stressed women’s reported experiences. The maternity unit at Treliske Hospital, Truro (Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust) has been assessed as among the “Best performing,” a category in which 26 percent of the units fall. In fact it is seventh best of the units. That is an excellent performance.

The unit at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, which serves some women in east Cornwall, is in the “Least well performing” category. That is unacceptable but the assessment has been influenced by incomplete information from the trust.

The complete details are here.

* 8 January 2008. Cornwall county council is considering, through consultants, the development of a park-and-ride for seven hundred cars at St Erth railway station. This, along with longer trains, would be to improve the service for people on the St Ives branch line, which is much used in summer, and to reduce congestion in St Ives.

Such a development has long been advocated by locals.

Read the details at Transport briefing here.

DAWN STILL TOO DARK

Back to the ejection of the migrant workers in Penzance. Penwith council has set out its arguments in a letter to the Cornishman, a local newspaper, and the blog St Ivean, which first challenged these events, has counter-replied.

I still don’t know clearly what happened, the sequence of events, whether this was the only way as Penwith council suggests, or whether there was a better way as the St Ivean suggests. We need more knowledge to be able to judge. Half a story, which is what we have at present, is not good enough.

Were the laws under which the authorities acted correctly followed? Is a dawn raid usual practice among authorities in circumstances like these? How many migrants are we talking about, were there any children (the original Cornishman report mentions a “family” so presumably there were), how many properties were involved, what was the issue with each, what are the migrants’ living circumstances now? Will they get their lost wages? Will anyone be prosecuted for anything?

There is also an unnecessary confusion about rehousing and the language of the council on this issue in the original 14 February report and in the Cornishman letter is unhelpfully fuzzy where it should be clear. I see the difficulty: the council cannot stand aside from overcrowded and unsafe accommodation, if that is what it was, and yet it does not have to rehouse temporary migrants. In such circumstances what is and should be its policy as homelessness is not acceptable either? This is a difficult question which should be publicly aired.

It isn’t just a question of more knowledge; there is an issue of how the council does things and how its actions are perceived. The quotations in the Cornishman report of 14 February suggest that some of the migrant workers were seriously unhappy at the circumstances of their ejection and that they have a perception of being treated with too little respect by the council that sought to help them. This should make Penwith and the other authorities think whether there are things they could have done differently for the same final result. It would be reassuring to be told that they have discussed the events with the migrant workers and got their considered take on it so that the views of those being helped can inform the ways of helping.

I certainly support work to ensure that migrant workers get a fair deal and I believe the council and other authorities have their interests at heart – that is unreservedly commendable and the importance and value of this work should not be lost sight of in the questions thrown up. The point now is to ascertain what happened and whether there is or isn’t a better way to deal with this sort of circumstance as migrant workers are part of life in west Cornwall and there will be other days.

GOLDILOCKS AND CORNWALL

The revised regional special strategy (RSS) of December 2007 proposes that
68 700 houses are built in Cornwall by 2026. For a county of 519 000 people at present that sounds a lot.

Read about the proposals here and perhaps read the parochial and largely hostile Commons debate of 22 January 2008 (beginning at column 381WH) on the strategy for the southwest generally where a reasonable concern was whether there would sufficient investment in infrastructure and Julia Goldsworthy made some positive and relevant points (column 395WH onwards). The Mebyon Kernow (MK) party has damned the proposals and the January 2008 edition of its magazine Cornish Nation called the proposals “Planning gone mad”. There are several objecting online petitions.

The figure of nearly sixty nine thousand may be too many, it may be too few, it may be just right. We do not have a Goldilocks to tell us. The public consultation later this year should help us decide.

As far as I can see the objections seem to be:

(1) 69 000 is too many as this number will damage the environment and create infrastructure problems
(2) what house building happens in Cornwall should be decided only and entirely by people or elected politicians in Cornwall
(3) houses built in Cornwall should be for local needs.

Additionally, some people consider that all new houses built in Cornwall should be affordable, which is not quite the same as (3).

An assumption behind the objections seems to be that if the number of new houses is decided by Cornwall people/politicians and such housing is only for local needs, then sixty nine thousand will be too many. I have seen no argument that shows that sixty nine thousand over twenty years is objectively too many given these assumptions. What we need from the objectors is a clear argument: how and how far will the environment be damaged and is this unavoidable and uncorrectable; what will the infrastructure problems be and can they be overcome; and, given the assumptions in the objections, how many houses should be built to meet all local need (how many for rent, how many for the various purchase schemes and for whole-house market-value purchase) and where should they be built. I realise this is a strategy not a program but it isn’t enough just to say sixty nine thousand is too many or to say a future Cornish housing board will work out the details.

More can be demanded of the RSS too. A vast house building program has been proposed which requires rigorous evidence-based justification and, although the figures are not arbitrary, more detailed explanation is needed. The RSS process should explore fully the objectors’ concerns about environment and infrastructure.

I have other worries.

I have explained before the advantages and drawbacks of localism and frankly I wonder whether, if left to a decision by the neighbourhood, any affordable housing would be built anywhere in England. At present central government, able to act for the whole country and able to limit the power of local self-interest, lays down expectations and some regulations about affordable housing. How would the RSS objectors deal with local objections and get their houses built?

I think too that mixing what should be evidence-based arguments about housing numbers with the nationalist politics of Cornish devolutionary powers and the electoral status of the regional authorities making the proposals makes it easier for the objections to be dismissed as aspects of separatism.

I’m unclear exactly what the argument in (3) means as there is an ambiguity about the term “local needs”. I assume the prime objection is to second homes and that there should be, as MK says, a focus on “affordable homes to meet local needs.” That appears to leave some room for market-value houses for aspiring and entrepreneurial locals and migrants to Cornwall.

In the meantime let me offer up some public data. The number on the affordable housing waiting list for Cornwall was 18 768 last spring. 532 affordable houses had been built the previous year, 501 nett, though this delivery rate may be speeding up now. These figures refer only to affordable houses not market-value houses and only to people already here and already old enough for a house. Are sixty nine thousand over twenty years wholly implausible?

VORSPRUNG CORNWALL 2

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 2007 from July onwards. Vorsprung Cornwall 1 covers February-June 2007 onwards.

*December 2007: Newquay Airport continues to expand its services. Ryanair are increasing their flights to London Stanstead and flights to Spain, from March 2008 Skybus will be operating two additional routes, and in summer 2008 Flybe will be operating five new routes.

These expansions will help the airport, create jobs, and help the Cornwall economy. Welcome them.

* 26 November 2007: A parliamentary answer has revealed that the proportion of 16-18 year olds in Cornwall who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETS) is 6.1 percent of the Cornwall age group. This is much lower than in many places; for example the figure for Hackney is 13.1 percent, for Liverpool 13.2, for Birmingham 11.4, and for Plymouth 7.4. Cornwall is in the bottom third of the figures, where bottom is best. This is good news about young people in Cornwall though 6.1 is still too high.

Read the details in Hansard 26 November 2007, columns 141W-144W. Similar information is given in Hansard 21 November 2007, columns 958W-964W.

Addendum February 2008: Hansard 25 February 2008, columns 1284W-1290W gives NEETS figures for 16 and 17 year olds. At December 2007 the figure for Cornwall was 5.5 percent of the age group; this puts Cornwall at the 64th percentile of the 149 local authorities.

* 7 November 2007: Starting in September next year Cornwall, along with thirteen other local authorities, will begin to offer fifteen hours of free early education to all three and four year olds for thirty eight weeks of the year. This is to help to give every child a good start in life and to help parents work out a life/work balance. The scheme will be funded by the government. Details are in Hansard for 7 November 2007, columns 3WS-4WS.

* 2 November 2007: today is the official opening of the new heart centre at Derriford Hospital, Pymouth. There’s an account of it in the Western Morning News.

Yes, I know Plymouth isn’t Cornwall but patients from east Cornwall use the hospital and the heart centre will be used by people from all over Cornwall. This cardiothoracic unit is very good news for people in Cornwall who no longer have to travel as far as London for treatment such as a heart bypass.

* 25 October 2007: the future of Newquay airport is assured after investment of around £44 million has been agreed to change it from an RAF to a wholly civil airport. This involves money from the EU, British government, and the regional development agency. The airport is important to Cornwall’s economic development. Read more here.

* 10 September 2007: Kerrier district council has deservedly been named by the government as a champion for homelessness. It will share with other councils its expertise and good, successful practice in reducing the use of temporary accommodation and in helping people to avoid homelessness. See here for more details.

*From September 8-22 St Ives, Cornwall is holding its annual festival. Music, poetry, painting, film, talks, everything to enjoy in the arts from Cornwall and the wider world. Not a time to be gloomy about this place.

* From 6th to 12th August Newquay is hosting its annual rip curl boardmasters (RCB) surf contest. Okay, Cornwall isn’t Hawaii but one estimate is that surfing brings £40 million into the Cornwall economy and this RCB contest attracts thousands of visitors each day. The rip curl boardmasters is actually a surfing, skateboarding, and music festival/competition. See here for vigorous details. Oh, and there is a bikini competition too.

Cornwall: a fun, energetic place for talented people and great for unenergetic spectators.

* August 2007- a regeneration of the centre of St Austell is going ahead. The cost will be £75 million, of which £31.5 million will be from the south west of England regional development agency (SWRDA) and the rest from the developers, David McLean Developers.

The regeneration will be mainly retail and includes new shops, cafes, a cinema, and an underground car park, but also seventy flats.

For several years now St Austell has been the forgotten town of Cornwall with an uninspiring town centre. Things can only get better.

Details are here and here.

* July 2007 – A group restoring the Steeple nature reserve on Worvas Hill, St Ives was given £36 000 by the heritage lottery fund. The money will help to fund restoration, improvements, tree planting, and educational work.

* An architecturally impressive new art gallery has opened in Penzance in July. St Ives has its Tate and now Penzance has its Exchange. See details and pictures here in the Daily Telegraph for 21 July.

* Marks and Spencer opened a new store on 19 July at the shopping site by the roundabout on the eastern outskirts of Hayle. As well as shirts and skirts and the usual M and S things, it will sell food and has a cafe, and has created nearly a hundred jobs. This is very good news for Hayle and western Cornwall. There are other shops on the site (Next, Boots) though I’m not sure if there’s enough car parking there. On the adjacent site there are other shops selling fabric, tiles, cars, etc; it’s all a good shopping area now.

* July 2007 – A fast computer network which links all the hospitals and doctors’ surgeries in Cornwall and Scillies has been launched.
This enables information to be shared among medicos speedily; for example, doctors will be able to see patients’ xrays from hospitals in their surgeries.

This technology is clearly a beneficial way of meeting the medical difficulties of a spread-out rural county.

See here for details from PublicTechnology.net.