Councillor Seeks People’s Views at Public Meeting

A Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall (MK) Councillor is planning to hold a public meeting about development issues in his parish of Illogan.

Cllr. Stephen Richardson has booked rooms at the Wellbeing Centre in Illogan and is hoping for members of the general public to come along to discuss what people have got to say about planning and development issues in the village. Cllr. Richardson is holding the meeting in part to help him respond to the frustrations of Illogan residents who will not be allowed to decide how Illogan is to be developed, as part of the UK Government’s Localism Act.

Regarding the production of a ‘Neighbourhood Plan’ by Illogan Parish, to determine what the views of the Illogan community are regarding how a Neighbourhood Plan should be completed, Cllr. Richardson wrote on his Blog:

"…we hope to ensure that the door is not left open to developers to move in and push for more development than even Cornwall Counil's agenda for growth demands."

The public meeting at the Wellbeing Centre will form part of Cllr. Richardson’s own efforts to hear what the community have to say on development issues. The public meeting will be held at the Wellbeing Centre on Thursday 23rd February 2012.

Attitude of Tory Councillor Questioned

In his latest blog post MK Councillor for Illogan asks why a Tory Cornwall councillor is dismissing an e-petition campaign calling for a debate into Cornish ethnicity as ‘spam’.

Cllr. Steve Richardson has questioned the logic that a Tory Councillor is using in calling an e-petition that has been set up urging the House of Commons to debate the issue of whether the Cornish should be recognised by the Government as a national minority as ‘spam’. According to Cllr. Richardson, Cllr. Chris Ridgers has written on Twitter that people should dismiss the e-petition as ‘spam’ and that his general attitude towards people who are trying to publicise the campaign is "rude" and "arrogant".

Cllr. Richardson questions how in touch Ridgers is with Tory Party policy in general, especially in view of the fact that Cornwall Council Tory Leader, Cllr. Alec Robertson, signed his name to a recent report arguing the case for the Cornish to be recognised as a national minority group. Cllr. Richardson adds that Ridgers does not even seem to be aware of what’s "going on in his own backyard", as his evident cluelessness about the possibility of a tourist tax showed.

Cllr. Richardson’s blog post can be found at the link below:

http://illoganblogger.blogspot.com/2011/08/chris-ridgers-rude-and-arrogant-or-just.html

Illogan Councillor Calls for Referendum on Stadium

Discussions about a possible stadium for Cornwall are continuing and there has been a lot of speculation about what the outcome will be.

In his letter to the press last week (see West Britain, dated 4 August 2011), Illogan’s MK Councillor Stephen Richardson calls on Cornwall Council to let the people of Cornwall decide on what the future holds. Cllr. Richardson says that Cornwall Council should use the DemCon ‘localism agenda’ to invoke a referendum on whether the stadium should be built or not and who should pay for it. As

Cllr. Richardson rightly points out:

"Surely if there was ever a case for a 'local referendum' then this is it? Not only could we have a referendum we could also vote on whether we should pay for it through voting to allow Cornwall Council to go over a government imposed cap on council tax."

The full text of Cllr. Richardson’s letter is set out below.

"There seems to be much angst amongst Cornish politicos as to whether or not we should have a brand new, shiny stadium right here in little Kernow. On the one hand we have those who are trying to build a CV or reputation on the back of a stadium. These people are quick off the mark to extol the economic and social benefits of a stadium.

They go through the usual rigmarole of wholly hypothetical projections and estimates to tell us that this many jobs will be created or that many £millions will be generated from building this complex of stadium and 'sports village'.

On the other hand we have others who complain about how much it is all going to cost and worry about just exactly who is actually going to get any benefit from the stadium. Why should we pay for something that only a few will benefit from? Personally, I think that this project is something that could be good for Cornwall.

Why shouldn't the people of Cornwall be able to enjoy big events and the opportunities that this could deliver? Why shouldn't Cornwall be able to compete on the prestigious world stage in the modern world? I also think that if there truly is a benefit to be gleaned for Cornwall then the stadium should be owned and managed by Cornwall and not sold off to others to take the profit while the people pay the bills. If the benefits are there then the investment would be worthwhile.

However, raising the money to pay for it shouldn't rely on greedy developers being granted licence to run riot with unaffordable and unnecessary housing developments as the price for getting it built. The thing is there are probably just as many people who would prefer to keep green fields and a quieter life as there are that would welcome a stadium. So here's an idea.

Why not use the much vaunted Localism agenda bought to us by the ConDem government. Surely if there was ever a case for a 'local referendum' then this is it? Not only could we have a referendum we could also vote on whether we should pay for it through voting to allow Cornwall Council to go over a government imposed cap on council tax. Come on Cornwall Council let the people decide. Do we want a stadium and do we want to pay for it?"

Contact Cllr. Stephen Richardson for follow up comment.

starichardson@btinternet.com