Liberal Democrats: Friends of Cornwall?

I confess I'd put aside the awful state of affairs that the Cornwall Council Conservative/Independent Administration inherited from the Liberal Democrats following the electorate's very sensible decision to boot them out of power from New County Hall in 2009.  However the awfulness of the Lib Dem legacy came rushing back into focus when I read the press release from Stephen Gilbert MP (St Austell and Newquay) on his opposition to the budget allocated to the Olympic Torch Relay.

To recap; the Lib Dems performance in Cornwall County Council amassed a sizeable collection of  'red flags'.  That was the Administration that botched the transfer of  Newquay Airport from the RAF leading to its closure and was responsible for putting the Fire Brigade and Childrens' safeguarding into interventions.  Those failures being only the tip of an iceberg of inept political leadership.

The Newquay Airport fiasco was not a 'one off' but rather evidence of an appalling lack of attention to risk management.  Soultions to all of these problems, and many more besides, have kept the current Administration busy whilst, at the same time, it has introduced fiscal prudence and set the Council on a journey to sustainable superior performance as already recognised in reports from various external auditing bodies and nominations for awards.

I'm sure that most of us want to live in a economically successful County rather than one which, for too long, has failed to achieve its potential.  To me having Objective 1 and, more recently, Convergence status are not badges of honour bur rather symbols of failure.

I had mistakenly believed that all politicians, irrespective of their beliefs, would want to see Cornwall and its people prosper.  Initially when I read Stephen Gilbert's comments I regarded him as a lone voice which, with a few minutes consideration, all other members of the Lib Dems would want to disassociate themselves from.  But no, the opportunity to put Cornwall down, again, has proved too strong for some of them to avoid.

The Olympic Torch Relay provides a unique opportunity to promote Cornwall to national, European and worldwide audiences.  The budgeted cost, of which over 50% is for road closures, security, first aid support and other necessary expenditures, will be in line with the costs which other Counties, and indeed Cities, will have to bear if they are on the Torch's route.  However, unlike them we are the starting point for the relay on Great Britain which, being a Saturday, enables us to reach not only people outside Cornwall but also the majority of the Cornish population.

The economic benefits hold out the prospect of being enormous, particularly well-timed as the Relay is at the beginning of the peak holiday season.  Coincidentally I met someone yesterday who is involved with the ticket office at the Lost Gardens of Heligan who reported that following last week's television programme on the Gardens, attendance has rocketted from both Cornish and non-Cornish visitors.  Even without any detailed consideration of figures it does not take a genius to extrapolate that effect across Cornwall when we appear on television news programmes, Sunday papers and other media outlets.  The benefits have every likelihood of lasting a long time and, rather than diverting the initial budget elsewhere to front-line services, we instead have the prospect of leveraging that budget into something far more significant to the long term advantage of Cornwall Council's front-line services.

The week ahead of the Torch Relay is Cornwall Business Week.  By attracting targetted journalists to come and experience the economic renaissance which is taking place in Cornwall, such as Wave Hub, Superfast Broadband, Combined Universities, Innovation Centres, Marine Energy Park, Heartlands, can be expected not just to extol Cornwall as a tourist destination but also as a suitable base for businesses and jobs.

Whilst I'm disappointed by Stephen Gilbert's comments they do, unfortunately, seem to fit into a pattern whereby some Lib Dems 'talk Cornwall down'.  Hopefully there are more strategically minded Lib Dems who will correct this view.

Port of Falmouth and the Chancellor of the Exchequer

Whilst the publicity surrounding the Chancellor's visit to Cornwall focused on the economic and job prospects arising from the successful bid for an Enterprise Zone at Newquay airport, he also gave time to understand the opportunities that the implementation of the Falmouth Harbour Masterplan would create.  The Masterplan identifies hundreds of new jobs and a major boost to the Cornish economy, including marine renewable energy developments and an increase in cruise liner tourists who would have opportunities to travel to attractions across Cornwall. 

 

Attending the meeting were Sarah Newton MP, Peter Childs and Mike Reynolds of A&P Falmouth, Mark Samson of the Falmouth Harbour Commissioners and myself.

Perranwell Station and the Financial Times

The  story so far; copies of the FT were noticeable by their absence in the Perranwell Stores last weekend so a request to the FT for explanation has produced this response:



Thanks for letting us know: we are investigating what may have happened, generally this outlet receives around 7 copies at the weeekend.  We certainly didn't do anything here to stop that, I suspect a packing error by our wholesaler but we will find out.

I note also from the figures that sales of the FT Mon-Fri at this shop are rarer than a Cornish suntan this year.  Can't interest you in a print subscription, I suppose??

Martin Ashford
UK Circulation Director