What a tangled web we weave...

Well, I guess that clears that up....except that it doesn't. A question you hear a lot in St Dennis is who, precisely, asked David Owens to write to the planning inspector in the first place? It certainly wasn't the Cabinet waste portfolio holder, councillor Julian German.

Another question concerns the very strong pro-incinerator views expressed in the letter, quite specific to the Sita planning application under consideration at the inquiry, and the official council policy - which simply asks for a revised waste disposal scheme somewhere in mid-Cornwall.

Costs of losing the Sita contract? Estimated by the council at £200million.
Costs of losing the planning inquiry? Depends how long it takes but probably about £1million, for which there is almost certainly insurance (I have asked the council to clarify the insurance position.)

Just hold that thought.

And Dick says...

Just done an interview with Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole:

"I'm very very disappointed by the negative and quite nasty response from Nick Clegg. I've always respected Tim Jones a great amount as a councillor and for the work he's done in his local community. I'm very grateful and humbled by his support for my campaign......the election of an MK MP would actually send shock waves through the political system and really put Cornwall on the map."

Nick Clegg responds to "Lib Dem backs MK" rumpus

My colleague Tamsin Melville interviewed Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on a variety of issues yesterday and asked him about the latest political advice of Tim Jones, the former Lib Dem leader on Restormel Borough Council. As every Conservative delights in reminding us, Tim Jones is now urging voters in the St Austell & Newquay constituency to support Mebyon Kernow's Dick Cole.
This is what Nick Clegg had to say:

"You know, if people want to make their own individual choices in favour of MK they're free to do so but I think that everybody knows MK hasn't got a hope of getting any MPs here and certainly hasn't got a hope of wielding any influence in Westminster. So talk about wasted votes - that is a wasted vote on a spectacular scale. I think the decision is quite different - do you support a party, the Liberal Democrats, which has Cornwall sort of coursing through its veins or do you vote for a party, the Conservatives, that is basically a party of the home counties? That's the choice."

I'm meeting up with Dick Cole in a hour or two and will invite him to reply.

St Tudy school update

It's going to be a busy fortnight ahead of the next Cornwall Council Cabinet meeting on 14th April, as education officials and St Tudy school governors and community activists try to thrash out a form of words on which they can agree. Both sides say the first face-to-face meeting was a success - but more meetings will be needed to find a recommendation with mutual support.

In St Tudy they want a new school. County Hall fears this could add to Cornwall's 5,000 surplus primary school places. The policy differences are quite fundamental and squaring this circle won't be easy.

An accident waiting to happen

It's hard not to sympathise with Carn Brea South councillor Kym Willoughby, whose attempt to improve the road at Penhallick, near Pool, was rebuffed on Tuesday. There have been three serious accidents in the past six months and 19 accidents in the past decade. Not dangerous enough, came the reply: it's a question of resources. I remember a similar argument about the A30 at Kennard's House on Bodmin Moor, where it took several deaths before the money could be found.

The best laid plans and a good IDeA

The Improvement and Development Agency is on its way to sort out Cornwall's planners. Some planning councillors were clearly a bit miffed at being told they needed extra training.

But Cabinet planning supremo Graeme Hicks tells me there have been too many decisions contrary to official advice, too many refusals (that's interesting - it's usually the other way round) and that he's had complaints from members of the public, developers and some councillors.

Planning is always controversial - even more so, now that the old district councils have gone and decision-making is less parochial.

Cornwall's planning councillors have been in the job only nine months and it's as well to trouble-shoot any problems sooner rather than later. Some of the old district councils had appalling reputations as planning authorities. The Local Government Ombudsman was routinely publishing critical reports and it was not unusual to see the police getting involved with long protracted investigations into alleged corruption.

I would be really interested to hear of any specific examples of the sorts of decisions which have brought in the IDeA.

UKIP late sub in North Cornwall

The UKIP prospective Parliamentary candidate, Ivor Masters, has withdrawn from the forthcoming general election contest in North Cornwall and is being replaced by Miriel Damerell-O'Connor. In the 2005 election the combined UKIP/Veritas vote (3,387) was greater than the Liberal Democrat majority (3,076) over the Conservatives.