Three things that need to change in politics in this next parliament

There's a lot said in a political campaign and certainly I've written and spoke my fair share. On ideas and policies that matter to me. But my ability to pick out a bad policy and build an argument about it is not a reason to elect me. If that logic ran true it'd be Owen Jones fending off coalition advances, but that's not true.

Electing an MP is about electing someone for their ideals, policies and principles but also electing an individual to represent them both in terms of policy and in terms of locality. I'd happily be an MP at the heart of the debate, trying to hold reason, sending constant missives to the press on how I'm right and everyone else is wrong.  But that's not enough, being a talker and thinker is great but we also need a doer and someone with an eye not just for high politics but an eye to the grass roots. 

I've tried to be this way with my blog, I often write and campaign about lofty ideals, devolution, privatisation, austerity and so on. In between those times I've  campaigned on specific issues. Against the pasty tax and Devonwall. For Superfast Broadband in Penzance town centre. For government investment and attention in Wave Hub, among others. I don't pretend for a minute that it was me alone that shifted these issues. I do feel however I can take credit for inspiring debate and getting the situation into the media and further up the political agenda.

I guess my personal plea to you is this, I feel I can have an impact, I feel that I already do. I've had this impact as a blogger, a tweeter and more recently as a town councillor. If I have a bigger mandate from thursday's vote, I will have more influence and more people will take note of me. More importantly than all of that pay more attention to Cornwall and the issues MK has raised time and again in this election, the failures of centralisation, our poorly performing economy, our low wages and Cornwall's affordable housing need. The opportunities of rethinking politics, having the chance to set our own, new, priorities in Cornwall, the chance that by doing things differently Cornwall can be a better place to live, work and play.

I've raised these three truths at this election a number of times, 1. we don't get fair funding for our public services in Cornwall, 2. the St Ives constituency has the lowest wages in Cornwall, 3. Cornwall is one of the poorest parts of Western Europe. Tory, Lib Dem and Labour have had a chance to sort these out and they haven't. I think the time has come to change that, we must change that. The more of a vote I and Mebyon Kernow get on thursday, the more of a say, MK can have in getting the focus of political minds to address Cornwall's fundamental problems head on and unlock the brighter future that we all know is possible. 

My very late and very disappointing reply from the government about Wave Hub

After I had given up all hope that I would receive a reply from those that I emailed about Wave Hub, finally today I received one. It was prefaced with an apology over the length taken to reply. I sent the email on the 17th of February (and re sent it after they told BBC Spotlight they had not received any email) so over two months so I think I could be forgive for expecting some kind of detailed reply, alas no. Save for the first paragraph the word Wave Hub is mentioned once more and Cornwall gets a solitary mention. My concerns raised in my email over the management of the project not addressed at all, instead a lengthy spiel about the government's support for off shore renewables and their strategy. Very depressing therefore that Cornwall and Wave Hub is mentioned but once.

Here's a sample:

The flitting between fonts and text size was in the original, copied and pasted? 

Where these questions in my original email too much to be answered?

So I ask of you, can you provide me (and the people of Cornwall) an update on progress with this project?
Can you provide justification that having the management of Wave Hub centralised in London, is to the benefit of the project and the taxpayer?
Whether the department has considered grants or funding to assist other users getting hooked up to Wavehub?

Is there any justification for the centralisation of the project and it's questionable success? Why won't the government defend their record and answer questions....

In danger of repeating myself for regular readers of my blog, see here for other posts on the subject. But I will say this again attempting to be at the cutting edge of technology requires constant progress not inaction. The reply to my email is very indicative of the lackadaisical approach to Wave Hub and how the government seems unwilling to take the project seriously. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives claim Cornwall is at the heart of government, by that they presumably they mean doing it dreckly and little else. (with apologies to Hedluv and Passman.)

My email to Vince Cable pleading that his department take action over Wave Hub. Copied to Andrew George and George Eustice.

Dear sirs,

I am writing to you to plead for action over Wave Hub and to question why it has taken so long for anything to actually happen with the project. Cornwall has been at the forefront of industrial development over the centuries and we take pride in our excellence in engineering and innovation. As such the Wavehub project off the coast of Hayle was widely welcomed here in West Cornwall. In the past we were at the cutting edge of the last industrial revolution and everyone welcomed the idea we'd be again at the cutting energy of another revolution this time in renewable energy. However unlike Cornwall in the industrial revolution, Wavehub has stalled. 

Over a year ago (22/12/2011) the ownership and management of Wavehub was centralised to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. The press releases and headlines proudly proclaimed that the 'Future of Wavehub was Secured'. Considering Wavehub itself was ready and awaiting users over a year before that, many people in Cornwall are questioning what exactly is the future of Wave Hub, what exactly have we secured? If you're unaware of what Wavehub exactly is, it is a pioneering test project for wave and tidal energy projects to trial new technologies. Elsewhere wave and tidal energy is already being harnessed, technologies have moved from the developmental stage to the operational stage. With this in mind it is lamentable that the Wavehub project has seen little actual progress in finding users. 

I do welcome some progress with the Irish firm Ocean Energy Limited engaging with the project later this year. It is good news, but even when they are using Wavehub they will only use one of the four berths and only 1 megawatt of the 20 megawatt potential. I urge that there is some concerted action to utilitise the potential of this multi-million pound technology, not only for the sake of itself but also for the local area. People were struggling to get decent jobs here before the economic downturn and the onset of austerity, now it is worse. With this in mind it is disappointing that this huge investment has not yielded any substantial amount of long term jobs.  Finding users for Wavehub would provide jobs for people in West Cornwall and it would also provide a great example of how Cornwall is at the forefront of green energy, provide optimism for both this growing sector and the Cornish economy generally. 

So I ask of you, can you provide me (and the people of Cornwall) an update on progress with this project? 

Can you provide justification that having the management of Wave Hub centralised in London, is to the benefit of the project and the taxpayer?

Whether the department has considered grants or funding to assist other users getting hooked up to Wavehub?

Yours faithfully,

Robert Simmons

Government inaction, flawed localism and Wave Hub

Image from www.investincornwall.co.uk

Today it was announced that the Future of Wave Hub is Secured. Which is a story about the transfer of the management of Wave Hub (http://www.wavehub.co.uk/) to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the ex RDA project now has a new owner. To be cynical, nothing has actually changed there are still no users of this exciting and innovative contraption, over a year after it was installed. Hopefully this will change and London can sort this one out because it is such a shame for the unique device and all the 42 million (plus infrastructure) spent on it. Best of luck to them. However, it must be noted some of the side stories evident in the story of Wave Hub, reflect on the policy and governance of the coalition government. Localism has been cast aside by the centralisation of Wave Hub and the governments ability to run services due to a focus on reform and rationalisation or in layman' terms cuts.

Localism of donkey work and the centralisation of control
Although there will be an office in Hayle administering the Wave Hub project the decision making has been centralised to London. This is deeply regrettable the project could easily be both administered and managed from Hayle by or in partnership with Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly LEP. It seems obvious to me that a small but dedicated team in Cornwall could do a better job than bureaucrats in London with many different tasks and priorities to juggle.Besides which what is the point of the LEP if it does not take the lead with economic development schemes like Wave Hub? It is hard to argue how an office in Whitehall would have a greater working relationship with the LEP and Cornwall Council than a Cornish based operation. This situation is not surprising localism both from London and Truro has never been about decision making, these capitals jealously hold on to these powers but don't mind palming off the day to day running. This is bad for all of Cornwall it keeps central offices making the decisions, with the well paid workers in the capitals whilst the provinces are left with the donkey work and making the center's solutions work.

Cornwall's lost economic year
The transference of Wave Hub in January ties in with the lack of action over our LEP. Both have stood idle for a year, this government and Cornwall Council so intent on cutting the deficit and rearranging everything but is neglecting to run the day to day business of government. Our LEP has been lifeless for nearly a year and even now are only half way through a public consultation process. The same is true of the government, they ought to have been pushing the Wave Hub getting back some of that money invested, the same is true of other ex RDA schemes. 18 months of coalition government and yet Helston Business Park lies still empty. Who knows how many more projects the government has left to the side? If the government wants growth then it needs to look to work publically owned assets better. Now is the time to act for the sake of the Cornish economy, doing it dreckly is not an option.


Renewable energy and the folly of inaction

Schematic of the Wave Hub, from www.wavehub.co.uk

There is much talk about the vaunted green pennisula idea for Cornwall, that we can lead the way in renewable energy, at the forefront of development and testing of new technologies. It is of no doubt an admirable idea, we have large amounts of latent untapped energy in and around Cornwall whether it be wind, tidal, geo-thermal or solar. This could make Cornwall lots of money, my fear for the development of this idea is this inaction of Wave Hub and economic development generally is leaving us behind. There's no point aspiring to being innovative and cutting edge if we are following others. There's no point developing new technology in Cornwall if no one will want to buy it. We need to either ditch this idea of a green peninsula (a mistake in my opinion) or push ahead with it and use the investment and expertise of the LEP and Cornwall Council to make this idea a reality. There have indeed been great advances in this regard the UK's first solar farm at Wheal Jane and the work toward Geo-Thermal near Redruth and the Eden Project but more is needed. What we are facing is a situation whereby many parts of the world are focussing upon developing the renewable sector. We can not afford to fall behind, we need to get Wave Hub working, we need to see some benefit from that £42 million pound investment of taxpayer's money. Most importantly we need to prove to the world that we can pioneer such technologies and succeed, leaving Wave Hub rusting on the sea bed is damaging to hopes of a pioneering green Cornish peninsula. To be a success innovating in this sector we need to make Wave Hub succeed. We need to show the world that investing in Cornwall will be a success, that projects here are successfully completed.