THE government has decided to ignore a public poll in which 58,087 out of 71,722 people voted "no" to the county council's bid to set up a unitary authority for Cornwall.

The government stated: ".... the climate in which the polls took place suggests the results need to be viewed with caution." The "wrong" answer was arrived at and thus could be ignored.

We are in the process of setting up a group to be called "Voice for Cornwall" dedicated to fighting this proposal. Is it a done deal as Cornwall county council would have us believe? No, it has to be ratified by parliament later this year. There is still time to fight.

Why object? 1. The proposal is undemocratic as it ignores the wishes of the major stakeholder - the public. 2. Without the support of Penwith district council, which will be abolished under the proposal, the fight for West Cornwall Hospital would almost certainly have been lost. 3. Local accountability will all but disappear. 4. The costs of transition have been understated, according to Professor Chisholm of Cambridge University, who reviewed the bid independently. He made many other criticisms. 5. Penwith has the lowest council tax in Cornwall. There is only one direction for it to go and that is up. 6. The 2006 audit report showed that Cornwall county council's ability to manage its finances and deliver value for money went down since 2005 to adequate performance - only at the minimum level.

Whilst the group considers how best to harness people to fight please contact any or all county councillors and local MPs by letter, telephone, email or, better still, in person and register your objection to a unitary authority. Without a fight we will certainly lose.

A J Williams, Trereife, Penzance