Shiny happy people

Anyone concerned what might result from the current enthusiasm among land owners for solar-powered electricity generation could do worse than pay attention to next week's Strategic Planning Committee meeting at County Hall, which is being advised to approve a 36.5-acre solar farm at North Petherwin, near Launceston.


The generous (ie tax-funded) feed-in tariffs for photo-voltaic (PV) energy mean landowners can't lose. Solar farm developers, in this case German-owned Kronos Solar, are in line for huge profits. As the company's own website advises potential investors:

"The risk-return relationship of PV is unrivaled (sic). With the Government's backing of the Feed-In-Tariff, revenues and hence returns for investors come state guaranteed."

Yet in terms of "green" energy, the forecast 5MW generated at North Petherwin is only slightly more than half that generated by the wind farm at Delabole.


In the coming months we will see how Cornwall Council's approach to solar energy develops. While welcoming the "potential billion pounds investment" some councillors are nervous about the planning issues implicit in such a land-hungry technology.

Up at Winsdon Farm, North Petherwin, the local parish council is leading objections to the Kronos application. Wildlife groups want studies into the effects of the development on bats and badgers. The Council for the Protection of Rural England (Cornwall) is concerned about the impact on landscape.

Despite this, council planning officials recommend approval at Thursday's meeting. The previous day, members of the Environment & Economy Overview & Scutiny Committee will be encouraged to get a grip of the whole "green energy" agenda. Officials say:

"There has never been a strategically approved mechanism / delivery plan to underpin the achievement of the Council's carbon reduction and energy self-sufficiency targets. Similarly there is no renewable energy delivery plan for the whole of Cornwall. The Council is opening itself up to criticism if it does not have a robust strategic delivery plan for its own well publicised programme."

For a reminder of the more general issues involved in the solar energy gold rush, my earlier blog post is here.

Best behaviour, please

Fingernails clean? Shoes polished? Stand up straight! Sorry, too much Dickens over Christmas. The way that Cornwall Council cares for children is to be the subject of another Ofsted inspection next month, with fieldwork due 10th-21st January and the final report expected around the end of February. Let's hope enough social workers have managed to shake off their winter 'flu. As we say in Hackland, it's a story either way.

Why your road wasn't gritted

Listeners to BBC Radio Cornwall will be familiar with complaints that during the recent cold weather Cornwall Council did not do enough to grit minor roads to rural communities. The council's response was that with more than 4,500 miles of road in Cornwall it is simply not possible to grit every square inch, and so priority is given to the 20% of roads which carry 80% of the traffic.

Some listeners, particularly those whose villages are just yards from a (gritted) main trunk road, were still not happy. Others thought that the council should also grit unadopted estate roads, and even pavements.

The framework which establishes the gritting priorities is to be found here - a national policy document in the form of a Code of Practice, which runs to 316 pages and which has its roots at the Department of Transport's research centre at Weybridge in Surrey.

There are lots of words in this document (gritting priorities are on page 174) and most of the advice can be summarised in just two: "common sense." Councils are told to weigh up lots of conflicting interests, including value for taxpayers' money, and make their own judgements about how to cope.

Now that daytime temperatures have returned to double figures I suspect the fuss will also melt away. But there are issues to be explored - such as local town and parish councils taking more responsibility (and raising their taxes?) - and lessons learned. Including the one about how good government is not always popular with all of the people all of the time.

Those awkward Christmas Day moments

Readers with sharp memories might recall that a few months ago I used this blog to shamelessly appeal to family and friends for a copy of Keith Richards biography as a November birthday present. No luck in November, but yesterday, as the trail of wrapping paper spread throughout the house, it soon became obvious that I had been given two copies. Oops. Still, it's the thoughts that count. And I wonder what Newquay & St Austell MP Stephen Gilbert was thinking when he posted this Christmas Day Tweet: "Stephen Gilbert MP is the proud owner of an actual studded whip."

News from the gallops

Bookmakers William Hill are offering odds of 4/1 that cracks in the coalition will lead to a General Election during 2011.

WHEN WILL NEXT GENERAL ELECTION TAKE PLACE?

2011......4/1
2012....6/1
2013....6/1
2014.....3/1
2015.....6/4

George Eustice gets his man

Cornwall Council has announced that Sir John Banham is to be the chairman of the new Local Enterprise Partnership, the new quango set up to spend taxpayers' money once the Regional Development Agency finally turns up its toes in 2012.

According the council's press release:

"Sir John's name was originally suggested at a meeting of private sector representatives convened by Camborne and Redruth MP George Eustice in November, and was then subsequently endorsed by the board of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Economic Forum."

I've asked the council for more details. Such as whether any other names were considered by the Economic Forum. The council statement also says:

"Given the intensive nature of the work required, Johnson Matthey, the company that Sir John currently chairs, has been recompensed for the time that he has committed to addressing the areas such as low cost green energy for Cornwall, connectivity, creating vibrant rural communities and affordable housing."

Naturally, given its enthusiasm for openness and transparency, the council will be keen to tell us how much compensation is being paid to Johnson Matthey...

STOP PRESS: The council just phoned to tell me that the amount of compensation paid to Johnson Matthey "is under discussion." Sir John's name was "the only name put forward by the private sector." The council is currently providing the secretariat to the the LEP.

Hmmm. The more I think about this, the more questions spring to mind. Were any names put forward by the public sector? What are the rules governing the appointment of a chairman - where does the authority come from to make such an appointment? Lest we forget, the man with the Midas touch who approved the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly LEP was.....Vince Cable.

STOP STOP PRESS:
The latest email exchange:

Were any "public sector" names considered to chair the LEP, and if so, who? I would be surprised if the council leader was not considered - are you able to confirm whether he was or was not?
No public names were considered - the Government made quite clear that LEPs should be private sector led (and chaired).
And as per my original email, who has appointed Sir John Banham? On what authority? Who made the rules? John was quoted in the WMN saying he had been asked "by the council" to chair the LEP - really? Who in the council has such power to make the appointment?
Sir John is the founding chair for the LEP. The Council will be working with him, the Chamber of Commerce, FSB and other partners to ensure a transparent 'Nolan' process for LEP Board members and thus, in turn, a formally appointed Chairman. He was put forward as a name by a number of representatives from the private sector as well as Chamber of Commerce. The Council has facilitated this to happen in lieu of the LEP being established (it is not yet a formally constituted body) and his appointment was endorsed by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Economic Forum.

Camborne North runners and riders

Here is the statement as to persons nominated for the Cornwall Council by-election to be held on 13th January:

Mike Champion (Mebyon Kernow)
Paul Holmes (Liberal Party)
Jacqueline Merrick (Green Party)
Anna Pascoe (Liberal Democrats)
Denise Pascoe (Conservative Party)
Jude Robinson (Labour & Co-operative Party)