Lanner Cornwall

Having read and discussed Cornwall Council’s Preferred Approach for a Core Strategy and the ancillary documents, particularly the one for the Community Network Areas of West Cornwall, Lanner parish council has made representations.

The Principal Themes.

The parish council is deeply concerned that the documents give so little recognition of and present such a limited – and, one might say, confused – strategy towards the rural communities, rural economy, and their value to the county as a whole. In particular, agriculture and the food and drink sectors are responsible for 30% of employment in Cornwall and provide £1.4 billion to the county’s GDP or 18% thereof. Combined with tourism, which supports 20% of jobs and provides 24% of GDP, they see the lion’s share of both employment and production from Cornwall: industries which have national and international standing and the obvious base from which future growth can be nurtured and developed. The resources, skills and commitment are already embedded here. Instead, there is a profound failure in the “preferred” Strategy to align itself with these realities and take them forward: it is as though these are yesterday’s industries and outside of forward thinking. We will come back to specifics later on.

Council is also concerned that “growth” and “development” are defined by the construction of buildings and covering the county with tarmac and concrete: in particular, the number of houses that are built within the plan period. Housing construction is only sustainable if there are employment opportunities to generate sufficient income to buy those houses and live in and maintain them. To build new homes without that employment base is to create serious social and economic problems for the next generation. Again, we will make further comment on housing below.

The route to economic growth other than by house building is seen within the Strategy as taking up the “green agenda” or perhaps the subsidies presently attached to that industry. Whilst the development of new ideas and technologies is always to be encouraged this is a high risk business which is far from reaching a point where it can financially stand alone. In addition, it is highly debateable whether well paid employment will be in practice be provided for those already living in the county. The indications are that these new businesses will require location on new greenfield sites rather than take up brownfield sites: the latter of which, when included within those sites already having extant planning permission for business uses, could provide sufficient employment to maintain the “preferred” rate of new house building.

The council therefore has grave fears about investing in a future economy based on house building and high risk technologies with only long term stand-alone markets and the risk of proven, high quality industries – in which we include education and health – being side-lined in comparison. Surely a Core Strategy should focus on the core employment sectors? With the average Cornish wage still only at 70% of the national average we need to base growth on the proven.

The Rural Economy.

Most of our villages are dormitory villages and as such we welcome all efforts to revitalise them with local employment prospects, particularly where these are appropriate for rural areas. As well as businesses rooted in food production and tourism, appropriate businesses could include arts and crafts, marine activities, and recreational pursuits from equestrianism to cycling. An open economy is essential rather than one which is closed.

With reference to our comments above concerning agriculture and food production/processing we consider it to be inappropriate for the Council to describe the industry as having “declined significantly” in the same breath as fishing and mining, given its contribution to GDP.

Equally inappropriate is the description of all land which isn’t covered with buildings or roads as “undeveloped”. Agricultural and horticultural land is very much in active, productive use – to term it undeveloped is both ignorant and indicative of what we perceive to be an urban driven Strategy.

The impact of open space on other aspects of the economy – particularly tourism – needs to be acknowledged as well as the environmental, social, and health benefits. There seems to be an inconsistency in a Strategy which seeks to seize the green agenda but which fails to properly value its countryside other than in AONBs or land of Grade A status.

It may be that only 6% of agricultural land is of classified as Grade A. This does not mean that only 6% of agricultural land is of “high quality”. Grade A land is essentially the best land for growing vegetables and grain. However, it is our other land which has a natural advantage within the UK for growing grass and it is this which supports our iconic dairy and meat industries. Our world ranking products such as cheese, clotted cream, wine and beef depend on Grade B and C soils which are by implication so easily dismissed in this document.

Housing.

Rural housing development should be based on local needs determined by proper evidence. In particular, it is not sufficient to rely on crude figures from the Homechoice register. Where the Homechoice register is used as, or to support, evidence the figures provided should exclude Band E applicants (who by definition are either in accommodation already which satisfies their need or have sufficient funds or income to resolve their accommodation problems in the open market), should exclude those with a local connection who do not want to live locally, and all other requirements as to qualification should be checked and verified.

Large scale residential development, by which we mean in excess of 12 units, within rural areas should be identified by a proper land allocation policy within the final plan. Exception sites should only be employed for the purpose they were originally devised: that is, to provide small local needs sites for up to 12 dwellings in rural areas. It is important that in such cases the “need” comes from within the particular community not from outside that community.

Developing The Plan.

The way in which the Strategy develops depends a lot on the way in which and the degree to which localism is taken up. In particular, the Strategy anticipates a strong take up on the provision of Neighbourhood Plans. Given that the cost of providing such Plans is likely to be within 50 – 100% of a rural parish’s annual precept this anticipation is considered unrealistic.

Parishes have recently expended substantial investment, both in terms of money and time, in preparing parish plans. It is important that the Core Strategy acknowledges these plans and indicates a continuing role for them in the absence of Neighbourhood Plans.

The collective aspirations of rural communities across the county also need to be expressed alongside the focus on the towns and urban centres within the Community Networks.