Cornwall Council has no formal policy on whether to privatise Newquay Airport, making it (as far as I can tell) the only local authority in England with 100% of the shares in its main regional air terminal. So this morning's comment by the cabinet member responsible, Carolyn Rule, was quite interesting: "Long term the council aren't the best people to be running an airport....three to four years down the line we'll look at things again."Friday, 5 March 2010
Newquay Airport for sale (one day)
Cornwall Council has no formal policy on whether to privatise Newquay Airport, making it (as far as I can tell) the only local authority in England with 100% of the shares in its main regional air terminal. So this morning's comment by the cabinet member responsible, Carolyn Rule, was quite interesting: "Long term the council aren't the best people to be running an airport....three to four years down the line we'll look at things again."
Newquay Airport for sale (one day)
Cornwall Council has no formal policy on whether to privatise Newquay Airport, making it (as far as I can tell) the only local authority in England with 100% of the shares in its main regional air terminal. So this morning's comment by the cabinet member responsible, Carolyn Rule, was quite interesting: "Long term the council aren't the best people to be running an airport....three to four years down the line we'll look at things again.""Facing The Cuts" Any Questions
Several Cornwall Councillors and prospective Parliamentary candidates have asked me how the BBC selected the audience for Radio Cornwall's "Any Questions"-style programme recorded at County Hall last night.
The answer is that the audience was supplied largely by the political parties - Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour, UK Independence Party, Green Party and Mebyn Kernow - in proportion to their demonstrable electoral support, as measured over the most recent council, European and general elections. This approach meant we were able to annoy just about all of the parties in equal measure, by pointing to an election in which they performed worse than their rivals.
My huge thanks to all who turned up and provided us with well-informed and entertaining questions - judging by the reaction on today's "Any Answers" the debate was very well received.
The answer is that the audience was supplied largely by the political parties - Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour, UK Independence Party, Green Party and Mebyn Kernow - in proportion to their demonstrable electoral support, as measured over the most recent council, European and general elections. This approach meant we were able to annoy just about all of the parties in equal measure, by pointing to an election in which they performed worse than their rivals.
My huge thanks to all who turned up and provided us with well-informed and entertaining questions - judging by the reaction on today's "Any Answers" the debate was very well received.
"Facing The Cuts" Any Questions
Several Cornwall Councillors and prospective Parliamentary candidates have asked me how the BBC selected the audience for Radio Cornwall's "Any Questions"-style programme recorded at County Hall last night.
The answer is that the audience was supplied largely by the political parties - Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour, UK Independence Party, Green Party and Mebyn Kernow - in proportion to their demonstrable electoral support, as measured over the most recent council, European and general elections. This approach meant we were able to annoy just about all of the parties in equal measure, by pointing to an election in which they performed worse than their rivals.
My huge thanks to all who turned up and provided us with well-informed and entertaining questions - judging by the reaction on today's "Any Answers" the debate was very well received.
The answer is that the audience was supplied largely by the political parties - Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour, UK Independence Party, Green Party and Mebyn Kernow - in proportion to their demonstrable electoral support, as measured over the most recent council, European and general elections. This approach meant we were able to annoy just about all of the parties in equal measure, by pointing to an election in which they performed worse than their rivals.
My huge thanks to all who turned up and provided us with well-informed and entertaining questions - judging by the reaction on today's "Any Answers" the debate was very well received.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
It's not often we care about how they vote in Iceland
Iceland holds a referendum tomorrow on whether to repay savings lost when the Icelandic banks collapsed in 2008.
Cornwall Council tells me this vote is about "retail" investors and not the UK local authorities whose cash is also missing. But somewhere in Iceland is about £9m which properly belongs to Cornwall. It had been invested in the Landsbanki bank.
A highly critical Audit Commission report, published in March 2009, claimed some of the investments had been "negligently deposited" by the former Restormel borough council just 90 minutes before Landsbanki collapsed. Landsbanki's collapse took with it £5m from the former Cornwall county council and £4m from Restormel.
Lawyers for the new Cornwall Council are studying their options. But polls indicate that 74% of Icelanders plan to vote against repayment.
Cornwall Council tells me this vote is about "retail" investors and not the UK local authorities whose cash is also missing. But somewhere in Iceland is about £9m which properly belongs to Cornwall. It had been invested in the Landsbanki bank.
A highly critical Audit Commission report, published in March 2009, claimed some of the investments had been "negligently deposited" by the former Restormel borough council just 90 minutes before Landsbanki collapsed. Landsbanki's collapse took with it £5m from the former Cornwall county council and £4m from Restormel.
Lawyers for the new Cornwall Council are studying their options. But polls indicate that 74% of Icelanders plan to vote against repayment.
It's not often we care about how they vote in Iceland
Iceland holds a referendum tomorrow on whether to repay savings lost when the Icelandic banks collapsed in 2008.
Cornwall Council tells me this vote is about "retail" investors and not the UK local authorities whose cash is also missing. But somewhere in Iceland is about £9m which properly belongs to Cornwall. It had been invested in the Landsbanki bank.
A highly critical Audit Commission report, published in March 2009, claimed some of the investments had been "negligently deposited" by the former Restormel borough council just 90 minutes before Landsbanki collapsed. Landsbanki's collapse took with it £5m from the former Cornwall county council and £4m from Restormel.
Lawyers for the new Cornwall Council are studying their options. But polls indicate that 74% of Icelanders plan to vote against repayment.
Cornwall Council tells me this vote is about "retail" investors and not the UK local authorities whose cash is also missing. But somewhere in Iceland is about £9m which properly belongs to Cornwall. It had been invested in the Landsbanki bank.
A highly critical Audit Commission report, published in March 2009, claimed some of the investments had been "negligently deposited" by the former Restormel borough council just 90 minutes before Landsbanki collapsed. Landsbanki's collapse took with it £5m from the former Cornwall county council and £4m from Restormel.
Lawyers for the new Cornwall Council are studying their options. But polls indicate that 74% of Icelanders plan to vote against repayment.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Sally Bain quits
The Cornwall Council cabinet member responsible for children's services, Sally Bain, tells me she plans to stand down at the end of the month for personal reasons.There is no doubt that being one of the 10 councillors who effectively run Cornwall Council is a very full-time job, demanding several hours a day. Sally plans to remain a "back-bench" member of the council. But her departure from the cabinet clearly poses some questions for the council's Conservative leadership - not least, who will replace her?
The government-appointed "trouble-shooter" sent in to sort out Cornwall's children's services, Lucy de Groot, is due to report to children's minister Dawn Primarolo within the next few weeks.
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