8/8/2017 Local Boundary Commission for Consultation Portal

Cornwall

Personal Details:

Name: Androw Hawke E-mail: Postcode: Organisation Name: The Cornish Nationalist Party

Comment text:

The Cornish Nationalist Party (The CNP) is responding to this consultation and will outline our reasons for our recommendation for the number of Councillors. After careful cons deration, we are strongly in favour of retaining the current 123 Councillors already established and elected at the recent Council elections in May 2017. Before the Cornish Unitary Authority was created, Kernow had one and six District Councils. This served Kernow well but the name Cornwall 'COUNTY' Council was not acceptable for a Celt c Nat on and the Cornish National peoples. The in tial ideas though of a 'One Cornwall' approach of Cornish Governance to allow Cornwall to maintain and Govern it's own affairs under one authority had many initial benefits. The removal of seven Chief Executive Off cers and associated salaries along with seven separate Management layers and salaries was highlighted along with overall savings. These to be replaced by only one Chief Executive Officer and one Authority with Management layers seemed to show that Cornwall could at that time lead the way and make huge savings which could then be used for operating and improving services for our communities. The ideas of One Stop Shops, bringing all Council Serv ces accessible to the public was a great idea led by a former Cornwall Councillor and we were totally in favour of the establishment of a Cornish Unitary Authority and the 123 Councillors which were created. The number of Councillors on this Council was massively lower than the elected Councillors of all the combined Cornwall County and District Councillors but in the interest of Kernow having an administrat on and a 'One Cornwall, One Voice' approach, we believed Kernow had an author ty and representation which could work, evolve and progress the functions of services being provided by this . Whilst a Unitary Authority was created, many wanted the creation of a Cornish Assembly instead, and although this didn't happen, we strongly felt that Cornwall Council being a Cornwall-wide authority had the opportunity to strengthen and gain powers from Westminster and the -based Governmental institutions over a period of time which could allow this Council in effect be operated as if it was a Cornish Assembly. Several years have now passed since Cornwall Council was created and the 123 Councillors are now well established within the structures and Boundaries within the whole of Kernow. So why change the number to even less resulting in less representation on Cornwall's only Cornwall-wide Council?. For us we accept that a review was inevitable, but with less representat on proposed, how can we say that less is more, we just can't. The idea of 87 Councillors is in our view far too low when compared to the original ideas of the Council and the benefits that Council would bring. Several years later, the current Cornwall Council is obsessed with cost-cutting, continually having to make savings, continually cutting services or passing them onto City, Town, Parish & Community Councils throughout Kernow. This Council has gone further than we had expected from the ideas of a 'One Cornwall Council' and with City, Town, Parish & Community Councils now taking on more devolved responsibilities which of course can benefit the local area, many of these Councillors are unpaid volunteers who don't even claim expenses. It is only right that devolut on occurs but there has to be a Cornwall-wide Council where Councillor representation is supportive and can manage the workload of the electorate and local Councillors as detailed above. 87 Councillors we feel would not be able to do this and twe cannot support this suggested number. The proposed number from Cornwall Council for 99 Councillors shows a willingness to offer a suggested lower figure and whilst we accept that the Council supports this number by a majority, again this is a further loss of 24 Councillors which when you compare the overall amount prior to the creation of the Unitary Authority, Cornwall would have less than 100 Councillors for a Council representing a Celtic Nation and the Cornish peoples and we can not accept this figure. So what is the answer, well, currently we have 123 Cornwall-w de Councillors on Cornwall Council, the Cornish Unitary Author ty. This as the current administrative set-up is established with Cornwall Council and the City, Town, Parish & Community Councils. This should remain in place and the current figure unchanged after this review. Cornwall needs a strong representat on on the Cornwall-w de Council. This is not The Cornish Nationalist Party being 'obstructive' but is in fact us showing, we don't always have to change something because the Westminster Government wants us to, especially when we have something which can work for all of Kernow and is already here working. Until such time that a Cornish Assembly is created / the Cornish Stannary Parliament is re-convened, we must support this Council and the 123 elected Councillors. The Cornwall Council Community Network Areas have been set-up and of course these are administrative areas throughout Kernow, with 19 in total, we fully support these as currently established. These can be strengthened even further but need to remain in place. The Cornish Nat onalist Party will await the outcome of this consultat on and subsequent reviews and will respond again as appropriate and within the specified timescales whilst this review takes place. At this time, on the 7th August 2017, we support the retention of 123 Councillors being elected to the Cornish Un tary Authority, Cornwall Council/Konsel Kernow.

Uploaded Documents:

None Uploaded

https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/print/informed-representation/10122 1/1