Why I'm standing for election, some thoughts about the Town Council and Cornwall Council

This is a blog about why I'm standing for Cornwall Council for Mebyon Kernow- The Party for Cornwall for my home area the Penzance East division. I just wanted to outline a few reasons why I think I'd be a great Cornwall Councillor and I think I could do a lot of good for this town. In this blog mostly focused on the relationship between Cornwall Council and the Town Council, check back for more posts soon. Unfortunately I haven't been able to fight this election in the way in which I'd hoped, my wife's father was very ill for the last few months and sadly passed away on Easter Sunday. My thoughts and attention have obviously been with my wife and my family at this trying time. I mention it, not because I want some form of sympathy, I just wanted to be clear that I've not been as active as I'd like to have been and planned to have been this year.

Firstly, I had anticipated fighting 2 simultaneous elections on May the Fourth both to Cornwall Council and for re-election to Penzance Town Council. Luckily for me, there will be no vote in Penzance East for the Town Council so I'm de facto re-elected, which I'm obviously delighted with. However I think it's a great shame that there wasn't more interest in the election for the Town Council, there needs to be elections in every ward. I think it's rather telling that there are 6 candidates for Cornwall Council for Penzance East from all of the parties (Joseph Bennie Conservative, Jonathan How Green, Tim Dwelly Labour, Richard Goedegebuur Liberal Democrat, Mebyon Kernow and Paul Nicholson UKIP) but there were only 4 standing for the town (Future for Penzance, Green, Labour and MK). This is partly due to the fact that only the Green candidate and myself are standing for both and we are the only 2 Cornwall Council candidates that actually live in Penzance East. Interestingly last time there was a Green candidate (elected) 2 Lib Dems (1 elected 1 not), a Labour candidate (elected) a Tory (not elected) and a Future for Penzance candidate (not elected). Both Tories and Lib Dems don't have a candidate for the town council for Penzance East this time. 

Penzance Town Council is growing in importance, the budget increases year on year the amount of services we provide is massively increasing (weed spraying, CCTV, public toilets etc). As austerity continues and as Cornwall Council's main approach to this is devolution, it is up to the town council to either stand by and watch CC drop these services or catch them. Inevitably the importance of Cornwall Council to Penzance will diminish and it's easy to see that the town council will scoop up most of what Penwith District Council used to do. This is to be welcomed, even if it means slowly un-ravelling the great centralising mistake of unitary in 2009 by the Lib Dems. Devolving services to the lowest possible level is the best approach in my opinion but the town needs more people engaged in the town council and although a lot of great work has been done in the last 4 years PZTC needs to continue to improve. We need to be at a a stage where the town council is just as important as Cornwall Council come election times and to the political parties. 

It's my belief that Penzance East needs a Cornwall Councillor that is also a town councillor to provide more local input and to work better together for the good of this town. On a practical level, it would really encouraging to see the next Cornwall Councillor (and this goes for all of Penzance) engaged in the devolution process between the 2 authorities rather than standing idly by. The failed devolution bid for the Jubilee Pool is a prime example of this and how much work needs to be done to get the 2 councils around the same table on equal terms. This is just one example the story of devolution for this town again and again, PZTC has been eager to take over facilities that are in good order and with some form of funding to cushion the blow to Penzance ratepayers but this seldom happens. 

Cornwall Council's parking plan for the town is another great example. Penzance is a town centre that needs cheaper parking and there are problems (caused in some way by expensive parking in CC car parks) with residents parking. Anyone that lives in this town will tell you that these are the 2 problems and they need fixing. CC plans didn't go anywhere, as nobody was really happy with them, nobody felt they addressed the issues and they were widely seen by people as an attempt for Cornwall Council to make yet more money from people parking in Penzance. Unsurprisingly PZTC voted to oppose these plans. Now we're back to square one and still problems with residents parking. It is clear that local input was wholly lacking throughout this whole process. What we need is to send someone up to Truro that will fight our corner and explain to the great and good at CC what this town wants and convince them that talking to the town council and working with us, will produce better results and actually fix problems. 

In the next 4 years the devolution agenda will continue and we need a strong voice for Penzance at Cornwall Council to get this town a good deal. The 2 councils need to work together better on devolution of services and for decision making in this town. If elected as Cornwall Councillor for this area I would work hard to build bridges between the 2 authorities and not shy away from the difficult work that this would entail. It is for the benefit of Penzance that our voice is heard at Cornwall Council through press releases and public statements but also and importantly in meeting rooms, negotiations and the business of administering and managing the public services of this town.  

Meeting with Premier Inn about proposed Branwell's Mill development

As many of you will have read online and in the local papers. Premier Inn are interested in setting up a hotel in Branwell's Mill in Penzance. Last night members of the Town Council were invited to a presentation by the agents from the hotel chain in St John's Hall. The Town Council rightly has a clear position that it is neutral on this development. Due to Code of Conduct rules and particularly Section 25 of the Localism Act, councillors must not enter debates with a closed mind. Or to put in plain terms the council and councillors can not be seen to have made a decision before the meeting and before they see the facts before them of that meeting. As with any planning application in the parish of Penzance it will be reviewed, debated and voted on by Penzance Town Council  Added to the fact that I've seen a presentation for the developers but not been able to speak to hear other sides of the story. This post is primarily to inform yourselves of what is happening rather than give an opinion or discuss and analyse the case for or against.

To give the facts and figures as presented last night. They are looking to present a planning application in July, with the hope of finishing construction and opening in last 2017 or early 2018. The plan (at this stage at least) is to have a 61 bedroom hotel with a 55 cover restaurant. Construction works, over all seem to be to keep the existing structure with internal modifications. The timber window bays are to be removed and there will be a small single floor foyer/ lobby constructed at the existing entrance pictured right. They did assure the meeting that they are working with Conservation Officers at Cornwall Council on plans.

The hotel's agents told us that the development would represent a £6 million investment. That the site would probably employ 16 full time equivalent posts. They seem confident that there is adequate demand in the town for another hotel and point to their research that shows that nearly 17,000 searches were made for Penzance on the Premier Inn website in the last 12 months. They claim that the knock on effect of having the hotel for the town would equal £1.95 million a year.

Obviously a great deal of this is early stages and it is in the pre-application stage. Obviously more will be known then. Although as I stated above the Town Council does not formally have a position there were a number of concerns raised by members about issues such as the knock on effect to existing businesses, parking (as the hotel is not planning on providing any) the poor pedestrian access to the site and the fact the building is both prominent and in a conservation area amongst other things. This is a significant development for the town and in a very significant area definitely one to watch with interest. Any thoughts or views please don't hesitate to get in contact.

Why I'm voting to stay in the EU and why I think you should too

I haven't interacted much with the European Referendum campaign much. Perhaps it's because I'm too much of a political nerd and would love to see people debating the policies of the European Parliament rather than various name calling and scare mongering but anyway...

There's a great deal to not like about the European Union. I'm not a defender of everything it does and the way it conducts itself. But I can say the same about a whole host of institutions and authorities. Which is why this post focuses on a few of the things I think are important.

I think the European Union is fundamentally a good idea. For 2 principle reasons, 1 the formation of the EU and greater European cooperation and understanding has led to the longest period of European peace in recorded history. If the history of Europe tells us anything then we are better off working with each other than we are fighting each other. I know that the EU will continue to exist if the UK votes to leave on thursday and I know that this peace will remain either way. Nevertheless the UK is better putting its weight behind the EU and not turning our backs on it and its members.

Secondly one of the driving force behind the formation of the EU was to work together and have a bigger voice in the world. The context decades ago was the Cold War and the desire to not be underlings of the 2 superpowers. But it still has great relevance today. As the course of history unfolds and we move further from the times in which European states held great empires and great influence over the world, it is clear that Europe is not the political powerhouse it once was. With the rise of places like China, India and Brazil it is clear to see that there is strength in numbers. That the EU is more influential in the world than the sum of its parts.

There is, perhaps predictably, a lot of uncertainty about the economic effects of leaving the EU. Like everyone else I don't have a crystal ball. I can't say for certain that the UK will be better of worse off with staying or leaving. However I do know that the economic benefits of the European Union, such as free trade and free movement of goods and services are a good thing. The fact is we trade most with our neighbours and doing so without the bureaucratic hindrances of import and export taxes, visas and work permits etc that the EU allows us, is good for business. One of the great uncertainties about leaving is how will international trade and its administration, look after Brexit?

For Cornwall though, the situation is very very clear, we will be worse off after Brexit. The fundamental nature of the UK is a centralised state and as such spending is prioritised from the centre and outwards. However EU funding has counteracted this pattern. Which is why it was the EU that stepped up and funded the Goss Moor A30 improvements, Superfast Broadband, the University and whole host of other spending items that elsewhere would naturally be seen as central government's duty to fund but aren't.  I've read all sorts of promises that Cornwall's EU funding could be replaced by Westminster in the event of Brexit. Frankly I don't believe them for a minute and fear that like so much Cornwall's voice would be drowned out by everywhere else lobbying for crucial funding and the end to regional funding for Cornwall like Objective One and Convergence in the past. 

I must confess that I get the concept of the EU, I understand the fundamental principles that underpin it. I do believe that Europe can work together and this is for the good of all. I'm proud to be voting in, not because I agree with everything the EU has ever done but because I believe in a better Europe and the UK leaving the EU will not help to make this happen.

Thanks for reading and please remember to vote on thursday.

Golowan is saved?

Last night was the Penzance Town Council meeting that decided upon the future of Golowan. Now Golowan has a different future, to recap 7 weeks ago the festival was presumably going to be run under the auspices of the town council. 6 weeks ago the council decided to put the core functions of Golowan out to a private management company. Last night all this was rescinded and we now have a new future for Golowan.


Personally I found myself in broad agreement with the principles that were stated at friday's public meeting at the Ritz. Which were to quote from my earlier blog: "That the budget cuts were unacceptable. That the new organisation must be bound by the original aims of Golowan. That the town council and councillors continues to fully support the festival whatever happens in the future (i.e. not cut it loose). That setting up a new organisation would take too long and not be able to run the 2016 festival."

As I agreed with all of these I would've been delighted if last nights decision reflected all of those points. However it did not, but from from glass half full to glass half empty, the mayors recommendations as set out in the paperwork did not come into place. The incremental budget cuts of 5 thousand per year for Golowan were refused (plan was from the 15k this year to, 19,250 2016 and 14,250 2017 and 2018). There was no mention of the original aims of Golowan and there was no mention of Town Council support for the festival in the recommendations. It could have been much worse.

On the point of a new organisation being set up for next year this was not listened to. Apparently it was impossible in the time-frame for the Town Council to hire a director and getting everything set for next year. (Planning a large event involves a lot of paperwork and jumping through hoops, often months in advance.) It was voted that an interim organisation will be appointed to do this very task for next year and somehow be able to do what the council can not!! It was explained that public concerns about the time-frame were addressed and now the council has moved the dates for deciding and handing over to a new organisation from the 18th of November to the 25th of November. I don't think this did address the anxieties people have one bit.

The full motion passed by council is that: 

This Council acknowledges the vital role the Golowan Festival plays both in life of the community we represent and the local economy.

The Council will continue to actively support Golowan and any future organisation that manages it. 

The Council recognises the importance of Golowan's original charitable aims and will ensure any future management organisation will abide by these.
The Council believes a successful future for Golowan is most likely to be achieved through a not-for-profit community organisation.
Immediately after the conclusion of the 2016 festival, the Council will invite bids from as wide a range as possible of appropriate interested parties to take responsibility for Golowan from 2017.
For at least the first 3 years of operation, the successful bidder will receive financial support from the Council of 25,000 pounds per year.
The Council will facilitate the creation of a Golowan supporters group, on the model of the 'Friends of Penlee House' with the intention of providing a vehicle for consultation on and community engagement with the future of the Golowan Festival.
This Council acknowledges the importance of Golowan 2016 as a transitional year.
This Council recognises that an era of increased responsibilities for town councils requires a higher standard of adherence to administrative and financial regulations than has been the case and that therefore the Council cannot manage Golowan in the way it has done previously.
This Council will therefore appoint an appropriate community organisation to deliver to deliver the 2016 Golowan festival ONLY, according to the timetable laid out below.

2 November – Committee decision. 

3 November – Firm expressions of interest to run the 2016 festival will be sought from the community. Advertised on Town Council’s website. 

20 November – Submissions from Community Interest Companies (or equivalents) returned to Town Council office. 

24 November – Chairs’ Committee meet to review the submissions, decision taken. 

25 November – Successful company informed and transference to begin immediately, to enable an event notification notice to go from the successful company to Cornwall Council before Christmas. Followed by the first SAG meeting In January to present the event management plan to Cornwall Council.

So this is to be the future, quite what it all means remains to be seen....

Golowan and it's future back before Penzance Town Council

Much has said and been written about Golowan over the last 6 weeks. For it was 6 weeks ago tomorrow that Penzance Town Council voted to put the core functions of the festival out to private management. This resulted in a flurry of press coverage, an explosion on social media, hundreds signing petitions. People were certainly not happy with the behind closed doors decision. Or to put it more simply 859 people have signed a petition that reads:

"Penzance town council have voted to hand the Golowan festival to a private company. We the undersigned believe this decision should be reversed and the public consulted about the festivals future."

https://www.change.org/p/penzance-town-council-save-the-golowan-festival?recruiter=20902901&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

On friday night (30/10/2015) there was a public meeting held in the Ritz Penzance. Pictured above is Mike Sagar Fenton chairing that meeting. The major thrust of the meeting was twofold, to hear from the Mayor (David Nebesnuick) about his latest recommendation to the full council meeting on monday and to ask him questions and show him the strength of public feeling. The second part was to resolve what the meeting wanted for the future of Golowan. Understandably there was some disagreement between what the public wanted and what the mayor had planned. (if it's of any interest I have complained that the town council papers and recommendation were published before the public meeting and are consequently contradictory and not taking public feeling into account).

Whatever I may think, or other councillors and whatever the mayor will recommend tomorrow night, has yet to be decided. Amendments may well be made, votes won and lost. To say the future of Golowan and it's management is secure and planned is not true.

The Mayor's recommendation is as a result of talking to people involved in the festival over the last few weeks. Is it a climbdown on the privatisation of Golowan? I really don't think so at all. Now it is envisaged that a CIO or CIC (which is presumably yet to exist) will take over Golowan in the coming weeks and deliver the 2016 festival. That the budget will be cut by 5 thousand in year 1 and an additional 5 thousand in year 2. That is £25,000 down to £15,000.

The full text is here
http://www.penzancetowncouncil.co.uk/assets/file/Golowan%202016%20Report.pdf

The meetings response was very clear in it's thoughts on this. There was a later show of hands that indicated; That the budget cuts were unacceptable That the new organisation must be bound by the original aims of Golowan. That the town council and councillors continues to fully support the festival whatever happens in the future (i.e. not cut it loose). That setting up a new organisation would take too long and not be able to run the 2016 festival. It was pointed out that the feasibility of putting this out to tender and making sure any organisation (let alone a bespoke organisation) won the tender would be ultra vires and even judicially re viewable, i.e. unlawful. Clearly a great amount of work is needed before any of these plans see the light of day!

I have a further fundamental problem with the plans, the Mayor justifies the decision to take Golowan out of the Town Council's hands because there were failings in the management this year. To quote:

The stimulus to take action arose from Cornwall Council’s loss of confidence in Penzance Town Council’s management of the festival in 2015 and their plans to undertake a special review of the management of Golowan under an independent chair provided by Plymouth City Council. 

Cornwall Council’s review took place in Camborne on 25 Sep 2015 and involved most of the members of the Council’s Safety Advisory Group. The Mayor, Acting Town Clerk and Festival Director were invited to attend the meeting which lasted 3 hours. Penzance Town Council was debriefed on its failures and weaknesses in preparing for the 2015 festival and the changes required for a successful festival in 2016. It was made clear that the status quo could not continue into 2016 because unless substantial improvements were made it was unlikely that the necessary road closures would be approved putting the festival in doubt.

(I've requested the minutes and notes from this meeting and not had any response whatsoever)

So there were failings apparently, the lesson for Penzance Town Council is apparently to get rid of the hassle and give it to someone else. What were the lessons from this time round and how can these obstacles be surmounted? More pressingly how can a brand new organisation or company learn these lessons. It greatly concerns me that if the challenges of delivering Golowan are seen as too much on the town council, what confidence can there be that any new provider will be ready for these challenges. I'm very much used to ways of working, whereby evaluation is done and mistakes are learnt from and things get better, I have little confidence that any of these proposed plans actually address the supposed failings of 2015 and has a vision for how 2016 can run smoother.

I'm still greatly perplexed at the seeming rush in all this. We have a festival that has survived, albeit with a revival, from antiquity, Even since the revival there has been 25 festivals. Yet we are giving ourselves such a short time-frame to reorder and reorganise this massive festival, the question is why?




As I wrote above the Town Council meeting will be held tomorrow night. Until then nothing is settled and I know there are various alternatives and amendments being proposed. Quite what the end product will be is far from certain. The meeting will be held in the Lecture Theater, Zennor building, Penwith College, 7 pm start. If you live in Penzance and wish to contact your councillors the contact details are here:
http://www.penzancetowncouncil.co.uk/councillors

Tomorrow's agenda:
http://www.penzancetowncouncil.co.uk/assets/file/Town%20Council%202.11.15.pdf

Penzance Town Council issue statement on Golowan

Coming hot on the heels of a widespread social media campaign to keep Golowan public, the front page of the Cornishman and a lot more going behind the scenes. The Chair of the Finance and Property Committe Dick Cliffe has issued a statement approved by the Mayor David Nebesnuick on behalf of the town council about the decision made 3 weeks ago today.

I've had no input into the content of this letter and I was sent it after it was finished. I do not agree with many of the points and would like to see a lot more clear facts to back up some of the sweeping statements.

Here's some brief comments.

There is a statement that: "Indeed the Council would prefer the event (Golowan) to be independent of the Council." This is not the policy of the town council, it may well be the views of some councillors but it has never been discussed let alone decided upon by the council. I certainly do not agree with it.

It continues: "Should an organization come forward at some point in the future, and expect significant Town Council grant funding to deliver Golowan, then we would want to see an established track record of delivery of large public events to a budget." Again never been discussed quite who 'we' is therefore is unclear. Again the town council has not discussed other options only to put it out to private management, let alone set parameters for another organisation to run it. It is only the town council in a meeting that can make such decisions. Again I do not agree with the statement, it's specifically and carefully written to preclude any community group or organisation within Penzance having anything to do with the running of Golowan and leaves only the private sector available.

On another tack my previous blog, I criticised the taking of this issue in private. The reasons given was because it was confidential. I've asked the question why if this statement is public and a varied argument made for the future management of Golowan, could the meeting itself not also have been public? I await an answer from the authors of this statement. I suspect the answer is because public pressure is telling and that many people feel that this is not an issue for the town council alone and there is a huge public interest, keep up the good work folks...

The open letter is here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6TN2L9M
The poll asking for a public meeting is here https://fans.vote/ACjkiqbudBQ/?wid=&ref=voted

Full Penzance Town Council statement is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2m8p_rrHuXtZm50dXB5MGcyMjVhWTlZZElCUnZnc0lfVmhj

Golowan no longer a community festival after a Penzance Town Council meeting behind closed doors

With some of us still pondering our way through the Penzance 400 report and trying to discover what to read between the lines, we all have a fresh cause for consternation, another festival involving Penzance Town Council; Golowan. Now I will be clear at the beginning that this was discussed in private session by councillors, that I am hamstrung to say much more on the subject.

I can however talk around it, a motion was brought before the town council on monday 21st September after the press and public had been excluded from the meeting. The public face of it is these words, as taken from the public agenda: "(b) Future Management of the Golowan Festival 2016 (see attached)". The attachment is of course private. I can confirm that this was the first and only time this matter was considered by the town council, since I was elected. I like other members had only 3 days from receiving the agenda to consider the item. Obviously due to the fact that it was considered private, councillors had no opportunity to speak to people involved and consider the arguments from those on the ground nor have a chance to canvass the opinion of the people that voted us into office. 

The last full council meeting, was a packed agenda and the usual rule for a 3 hour meeting maximum had to be suspended for the last items to be considered. As you can see for yourselves from the agenda it had 18 reports for decision that doesn't even include minutes or reports for information, including a future home for the town council, a proposal to reduce the number of town councillors, devolution priorities year on year for the next few years, CCTV, Morrab Gardens, Isles of Scilly parking, Poltair hospital and so the list goes on. Matters vital to the future of the council and the town itself, incurring budgets of millions and affecting a huge swathe of public services. As there was such a great rush, members were written to and asked to read papers carefully to facilitate less questions and more speedy voting at the meeting. It is in this context that we have to realise that the Golowan decision was made at the end of a very very long meeting with a packed agenda. 

Add to this the abject lack of consultation by the council itself to members of the public, interested parties and even councillors themselves. Is it any wonder that we now have an open letter signed by over 300 people, calling on the council to rescind that hastily made decision?  

Here's a link to the open letter which provides some insight to what the decision was: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6TN2L9M

For what it's worth, I do not agree that the motion should have been discussed in this manner. The future of a such a pivotal community festival is most definitely a matter of public interest and not to be packaged up with sensitive matter and hidden behind the veil of commercial sensitivity. Or in other words the decision to put Golowan out to commercial management, should be a matter of public debate, careful consideration and have been put before councillors as a simple question in the interests of openness and transparency. In the current climate this would seem to radical!