It strikes me that since antiquity Cornwall has been a well connected place, but it is not now. In fact since the first recorded histories we read of Phoenician traders coming to Cornwall to buy tin, this trade in minerals lasted for millennia and saw great empires rise and fall as it continued unimpeded. This trade with the Mediterranean was not just confined to metal exports, fish cured in various ways was caught and landed here and sold to the Catholic markets of Europe for the traditional meat fast on fridays. On the subject of religion we know that Cornwall was well connected with the Celtic world by the number of saints found in Cornwall who hailed from Ireland, Wales and Brittany. All of these connections of course were facilitated by the sea and our unique geographical position jutting out into the Atlantic. There is a widespread fallacy that Cornwall was isolated and remote before the Great Western Railway was built but it ignores the lessons of history and the Cornish landscape itself.
We may no longer sadly be the premier exporter of tin and copper, but why not better connect Cornwall with the sea? As we all know the A30 and M5 is a weak link with the markets of England, it's a very long road and prone to excessive traffic jams especially in the summer holidays. Being the only trunk road and usable way to up country it's not an ideal situation, but it serves not only the way in which Cornish people go on holiday and people come to Cornwall but the lifeline for the Cornish export industry. Despite Cornwall Council's honourable attempts to wrest control of these trunk roads from central government it is hard to imagine how the state will pay for significant upgrades whoever controls them. They certainly haven't don't it thus far and that was before the recession and austerity cycle, this in mind and with a rising population the situation can only get worse. The question I am posing is why are we relying upon one long and winding road? we have an airport in Newquay and one of the finest harbours in the world in Falmouth and Carrick Roads and some other fine ones besides. Why are we letting this potential go untapped.
Last month was the fantastic news revealed by Cornwall Development Company research that our food industry continues to grow, according to their figures 30% of Cornish jobs are in the food sector amounting to 18% of our GDP (link here). Cornwall has a great reputation for high quality fresh food, whether it be meat, diary products, vegetables or seafood. We also have a great reputation for prepared food and drink and Cornish products are household names throughout Britain. Not to mention Cornish and Scillonian flowers which brighten up people's lives throughout this isle. It is my opinion that these industries can continue to grow how attractive they are with their labour intensive methods, creating proper full time jobs for Cornish people. For these industries to grow they need to reach a bigger market and reduce the transportation costs. The obvious solution is to look to the sea once again for transport. This not only circumvents the A30/M5 but would open up Cornish goods to the nearby markets of Brittany, Normandy, Ireland and beyond. Certainly we shouldn't foresake our neighbours and our status as England's bread basket but we need to realise this added potential.
I don't think moving to a sea based export system (or indeed import system) would be easy, I don't think it would be simple but the obvious attractions are there, we need to start thinking differently about the world and the problems we face. We need to take advantage of our assets and our geographical position, we also need to realise our limitations and obstacles to growth. I don't pretend to have all the answers and there are lots of other facets to this, for example could we be building renewable energy devices here in Cornwall and exporting them directly. Could we revive the idea to turn Falmouth into a container port, could we take advantage of our position as gateway to Britain and steal a march on English ports? Any ideas or thoughts comment below...
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Another excellent blog Rob! It is a subject that rings with so many parallels to the situation here in West Wales and the need for meaningful economic regeneration and utilisation of our geographical position.
ReplyDeleteThere has historically always been an East/West divide in the British Isles, the Atlantic facing West and the North Sea facing East, for thousands of years.
The Western half generally speaking, has historically had strong sea links to Western France, Northern Spain and Portugal into the Mediterranean as well as Ireland, West Coast of Scotland and NW England.
During the Industrial Revolution the Atlantic ports had links further a field, to the Americas, Southern Africa etc, in part due to our geographical position as the first ports of call and being the industrial heartlands of the UK.
The demise of these western ports in some respects has been in part to our changing relationship with the EU over the last 60years, as our biggest trading partner and the demise of Primary Industries either side of the Bristol Channel. It therefore no surprise that our largest ports like Felixstowe are on the Eastern side of the Isles, closer to our biggest trading partner and the biggest consumer centre, London and the SE.
As it is becoming apparent there is a socio-economic division between Western periphery and many other parts of the British Isles.
It is only natural for those peoples to want a sense of self-determination for creating prosperity and improving the welfare of their societies. So clearly there is a strong argument for the regional assemblies to utilise the existing infrastructure like ports, railways, etc. to regenerate and reinvent the Western Peripheries economies.
A good example is here in Swansea. Since the formation of the Welsh Assembly, Swansea has been in a steady decline, losing out on economic and finical investment to Cardiff and Newport.
Swansea has in theory unlike the other 2 cities still a functional docks, the infrastructure is still in place combined with a reasonably good road access.
We also until recently had a Swansea to Cork ferry service, but high fuel costs put pay to that!
However the authorities thought it would be a better idea to develop the dock area into a "cosmopolitan" housing development, offices and "cafe culture" business on the doorstep of Gower. Generally speaking demographically it is for those in society who are reasonably well off, often English immigrants with money.
Swansea itself is a city of generally those who have or have not, developments like this only widening the socio-economic divide.
So in essence Swansea has an economic asset in the docks that it does not use. Its redevelopment or reinvention as an Export Hub for South Wales could provide the benefits of economic regeneration to all members of its society through the establishment of import /export business' and jobs.
It strikes me that the Welsh Assembly and many local authorities in South Wales are essentially living off Westminster handouts, a sort of social security benefit on a grand scale! And the impression you get is that they seem quite happy with the status quo!
They somewhat forgotten what created the wealth of the cities in the first place-Industry.
Although I am not advocating a returning the heavy industry of a by gone age, we need to be sophisticated in our thinking and develop modern high tech exports combined with our traditional agricultural exports and believe or not see our waste products (electronics, metals, glass) as export commodities for the growing BRIC economies.
If Wales or other members of the Western Periphery really want to improve their lot, then there has to be a degree of real self-determination by the various assemblies to be economically autonomous and not relying on so much Westminster state handouts to keep us going.
Like Rob suggests in his blog significant changes are likely "not to be easy", however it is achievable if people have the will and put their mind too it.
Absolutely, but try getting funding these days..?! The Cornish economy is at rock bottom and there is not enough help to wade through all the bureaucracy.
ReplyDeletegood point, there is still a considerable amount of convergence funding left and surely there is private money wiling to be invested in such schemes?
ReplyDeleteI think there has suddenly been an explosion of 'business' & 'entrepreneur' agencies sucking the life out of the fund allocations, but they offer inadequate almost nonchalant advice that should really be freely available. I have great plans for expansion - the banks should be lending to small businesses - there is adequate funding - BUT...do I get any financial help? No! Why? Because there are too many form-filling, box-ticking policies in place holding me back.
ReplyDeleteThat's a familiar story Cornwall SEO, the amount of agencies and departments needed to navigate through to secure funding is mind boggling. I am at a loss as to why these things take so much administration and bureaucracy. I hope you find a way through all the forms and tickboxing to what you need. Thanks for the comment.
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