Angry residents complain to PM about deluge of new homes... For whom? Cornwall

 Here’s a copy of an email written to our dear beloved Prime Minister, Theresa May, about the state of our Duchy. Obviously it’ll be ignored, it involves Cornwall, the place whose people had to get Minority status so that they could have a say in local issues. That didn’t work out too well, London still has more say in our lives than our families do.

 Dear Mrs May

I am writing to you because I am becoming increasingly angry and dismayed at the situation here in Cornwall. A situation that has arisen since the creation of the National Planning Policy Framework which has been written by developers, for developers.

Your ‘one size fits all’ Planning Framework does not, in any way shape or form, fit Cornwall. In fact, it’s been highly damaging both environmentally and socially; it’s destroying our very fabric, our way of life and the land that we hold dear.

Our Local Plan here in Cornwall was pushed through against our wishes and our Unitary Authority seemingly went along with your inspector, Simon Emerson’s grossly exaggerated target of 47,500 houses to be built by 2030. First this was increased to 52,000 to accommodate more second homes, and now to 60,000! All in the space of two years.

These hyper developments cannot continue: our roads are gridlocked, our schools are full, our only hospital is on constant black-alert, our doctors and dentists’ surgeries are full and we’re breathing in excessive air pollution, as year on year more Air Quality Management Areas are announced.

Our peninsula is small in comparison to the rest of the country and we will not stand by and let our homeland be ruined by your Government, all the while developers are making huge amounts of profit from our Duchy and putting in huge sums of money into the Tory party coffers. It’s outrageous and sheer madness to think that there can be continual growth on a finite planet with finite resources.

Then we learn that there’s even more bad news for our countryside with your initiative of ‘garden villages.’ This is just another term to use that means concrete over the countryside. At what point will you learn that what is on your dinner plate is grown/reared in the countryside which you’re so desperate to destroy to satisfy developers who donate so generously to the Tory party; it beggars belief.

It is safe to say that the Tory party are not well liked in Cornwall for a plethora of reasons (some of which I’ve mentioned) and Sajid Javid is becoming somewhat of a hate figure thanks to his downright ill thought-out comments he’s made about the Cornish.

Our six Tory MPs are not to be left out either. We write to them and are sometimes ignored. If we do receive a reply, they just skirt around the issues we have raised and we get lip service in return. This is disgraceful. We hardly ever hear of Cornish issues being raised in parliament and, if they do choose to speak up, it is only ever minor issues that they raise. This is unacceptable.

There are many campaigners here in Cornwall doing their utmost to make sure all 6 Tory MPs are unseated at the next General Election and, I must say, I am in full agreement with them due to your socially damaging, bordering on inhumane policies.

Below is a recent letter that I sent to Cornwall Council regarding the Stadium for Cornwall fiasco that’s been rumbling away for quite some time, and funding for which David Cameron promised us. Which, of course, was another empty promise.

I urge you all to please consider very carefully when voting for/against the Stadium for Cornwall on April 17th.
There are many factors to consider which are:
Firstly, the cost, a £3 million ask from the taxpayer on a vanity project that few want or need. The original costing of the Stadium will surely have escalated over time and it’s a reasonable assumption that the Stadium will cost the taxpayer dearly.
How can Cornwall Council justify the £3 million cost, which they can ill afford to spend given that Cornwall is starting to resemble a third world country. Our streets are ridden with weeds, our grass verges are overgrown as are our hedges and a lot of our narrow lanes are becoming impassable due to them either not being trimmed back or only trimmed back once a year.
And then we move onto our roads. Roads that are strewn with actual craters because smaller potholes have been left unfilled for so long they have now merged to become huge craters that pose a danger to life if a motorbike/cyclist hit one on a dark evening.
Our hospital is on constant black-alert and is barely coping. The £3 million cost for the Stadium would be better placed in one of our front line services.
Cornwall Council is £2 billion in debt and has a huge pension deficit (your pension I might add). Plus they’re creating tier upon tier of arms length ‘companies’ seemingly to hide this debt.
The Stadium is an ill thought out project that has been used as a bribe; not once but twice by INOX. First time was when they promised the Stadium if outline planning permission was granted and the second time when a more detailed application was submitted. It is just not right that INOX have gotten away with blackmailing Cornwall Council so as they were granted planning permission. It was deceiving at the very least.
The government, under David Cameron, told the peoples of Cornwall that we would get a Stadium. Yet another empty promise…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-33562780
The proposed Stadium is totally in the wrong place; Truro is NOT mid Cornwall. Truro is in the West and is not central. If the whole of Cornwall is supposedly going to utilise the Stadium it needs to be in a central location.
I am sure your all aware of the traffic congestion on the A390 corridor and that Truro is in an Air Quality Management Area because traffic pollution is excessive. What do you think the impact of this proposed Stadium will have on Treliske? I’ll give you an insight. Traffic is an absolute nightmare as it stands leading up to Treliske. Just imagine, for a second, what the traffic will be like both pre match and post match with all 10,000 seats full which, potentially, could equate to 5,000 extra cars on an already extremely congested road. Then imagine what said cars will do to the excessive air pollution, (I have attached Cornwall council’s own Air Quality report for you to see the level of pollution in Truro) it will be off the scale and far exceed EU guidelines.
Also imagine how ambulances will struggle to get to Treliske with a potential 5,000 extra cars on the road when there’s a match. Undoubtedly, lives will be lost because there will be ambulances that will be stuck in gridlocked traffic.
If the points that I’ve raised haven’t deterred you from voting in favour then consider the additional cost to the taxpayer for the running of the Stadium which is estimated to be between £1- £1.5 million. You might also like to ask these questions on the 17th April. Who will pay for the upkeep of the Stadium and what will happen if it’s not utilised enough to turnover a profit?

There is much anger about the proposed Stadium because many see the £3 million cost too excessive and most would prefer it if said cost was spent more wisely on fixing potholes or resourcing essential front line services. They see little benefit to the majority of Cornish people. The only people that will benefit will be the Cornish Pirates, Truro FC, Truro College and fans of both teams. This does not justify the cost in any way shape or form.
I urge you, on the 17th April, to Not vote for the Stadium for Cornwall as the cost can be better utilised elsewhere.
The issues that I have raised above are what (not just the Cornish) but the UK as a whole are living with on a daily basis in Tory Britain. We are a forgotten nation here in Cornwall, we just are not visible outside of your Westminster bubble.
Here are two examples of prominent petitions that are gathering pace here. Please do read the comments on the Change.org petition and I have also included a link to an update specifically targeting the Tory party. Also take note of how many thousands of people value our agricultural land. Rest assured, there is growing anger here which is likened to a pressure cooker. We have had enough of being the forgotten land in which we have no say because our Tory MPs fail to raise our very real concerns.

Can be viewed at https://www.change.org/p/cornwall-council-phil-mason-council-s-chief-planning-officer-has-failed-cornwall-and-must-resign/u/22616809

Waste of time in my opinion. Don’t mention hospitals, if you have a terminal illness they won’t care for you, you get sick they’ll dump you at home when you’re slighty better and leave your body to be found by the milkman. Carers, careplan? Don’t be silly, those cost money. Only thing that happens in Cornwall is housebuilding, 100% fact, we’re dying literally because of it.