Presently, in Falmouth, like the rest of Cornwall, our local services are run by three tiers of local government. We have the town council, the district council, Carrick in our case, and Cornwall county council.
Most people will remember the fiasco two years ago over the overdue renewal of the railings along the sea front, and where no one could decide if they were the responsibility of the county council, who deal with highways, or Carrick district council, who deal with civic amenities and parks. The cost was going to be large and the buck was being passed back and forth between the councils until the fence broke and a lady fell through, fortunately without serious injury. This near disaster focussed minds, agreement was quickly reached about sharing the cost, and the needed work was done.
Cornwall's councils, large and small, are under great pressure from government to find ways of reducing costs, and there is an obvious opportunity for saving costs if the present duplication and overlapping of services can be eliminated and there would be a second gain at the same time because a less complicated structure should give us all better services.
Broadly, Cornwall county council are proposing to government that our present administration should be reduced from three layers to two.
Town councils would be enhanced and given more responsibility, allowing as many issues as possible around the town to be settled quickly at the most local level. County councillors for the area would also be able to work from the same offices as the town council, giving immediate contact between councillors when the backing of Cornwall county council was needed to deal with larger problems.
It has been estimated that if the work presently carried out by Carrick district council would be divided between the two new councils at least £15 million per year would be saved, but as the same services as at present would be needed and expected by the public, there would be no sudden large scale redundancies. In some cases cost savings will be possible, and in other cases better services will be possible using the present funds. Either way we all win.
The county council is strong enough to be able to back up local councils on issues such as planning, where the present district councils are sometimes not big enough to stand up to very large development companies. At the same time, small local plans could be settled more quickly and locally at the town council offices.
Another advantage we would have here in Falmouth would be the end of the "tug-of-war" for funding and projects between Truro and Falmouth. Every town across Cornwall would have the chance to stand on its own feet and get equal treatment.
Finally, in our presentation to government, Cornwall county council will be pressing very hard that Cornwall is given control of some of the things presently run regionally by the government. For example, our European Objective One and Convergence Funding is controlled outside Cornwall by regional bodies appointed by the government. With more control within Cornwall we might be able to get more priority for projects we see as urgent, such as housing for students and the passing loop on the rail line to Truro.
Cornwall needs a strong voice in the world, only a strong county council can provide it.
Oliver Cramp, county councillor, Falmouth south division
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