Beach Ices at Praa Sands
Ice meeting the sand at the base of the low cliff behind Praa Sands Beach, West Cornwall. 6th January 2009....
Icicles at Trewellard Bottoms
Water seeping through a wall is turned to icicles, ate Trewellard Bottoms, where Geevor Mine meets the sea....
Winter Sunset at Levant
A late afternoon scene, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall. 7th January 2009....
Winter at Levant
The old electricity generator building, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall, during the recent cold snap. 7th Jnauary 2009....
Recent headline comment in the local news media from Tim Smit of the Eden Project on the subject of 'One Cornwall' (the unified council for Cornwall):
“I’m personally very excited about the opportunities this will bring” he said. “The challenge of climate change means that within our lifetimes there will be changes greater than we have ever seen. If we look back in 20 years’ time, would history show that we were bold, brave and ambitious enough to make a real difference? Our level of aspiration must be excellence. I’d like the new council to make Cornwall the greenest place in the world.”
Whatever any of our personal views are about Tim Smit and his activities many of us get quite irritated when 'celebrities' are either rolled out by others or roll themselves out to make statements on major issues when democracy for the rest of us doesn't seem to be looked on as important by either central London government or even our own elected authorities.
Yes just to remind the press and other media, this is a democracy, we didn't elect Tim Smit to represent us and if you want to give us news that's informative and allows us the general public to make informed decisions, please make sure you also properly cover the major issues that are going to have major implications for Cornwall and the Cornish people.
All I see is propaganda in our press from people like Mr Smit and unelected bodies like the South West Regional Development Agency and quangos linked to them.
Let me quote from a news item on the web site of the Cornish Social and Economic Research Group:
This major issue about the possible impact of central government directed policy on Cornwall, which let's not forget will also mean many thousands more vehicles on our roads all year round causing a major increase in polution, hardly gets coverage in our news media. Yes I'm glad that Tim Smit seems to care about the environment and Cornwall's future, but he is not an elected representative of my community and I want to hear from them what they are intending to do about the current and proposed mass development in every part of Cornwall that is likely to only benefit developers and those that can afford to move to Cornwall and buy most of the housing that is going to cover our land.
Can anyone tell me why an overblown gardener like Mr Smit is being allowed so much media say on the future of a land that isn't his native one? Or so much media say on anyone's future, come to that?
so..
what do we do about all of this , how do we put a stop to it or even get our opinions on this matter heard and as Porthia quite rightly said what of our elected reps what are there views on all of this!?
Maybe the Lib Dems, because they think Cornwall 'a unique county', will do something? OR are they all about getting into power in London?
Having said that I know we can't tar all supporters or active Lib Dems with the same brush and I do hope that those activists/members that are focused on what's best for Cornwall (and that must be an assembly with real power)will be more influential in the party than those that only see getting control of central government as the main objective.
No visible mention of the Cornish Assemblycommitment of Cornwall's Liberal Democrat MP's manifestos nor any reprimand for Whalley & Co for betraying the people of Cornwall with the toytown UA proposal dictatorial imposition.
Yes it all seems to be about big names and big ideas these days as though adding 'big' to anything is synonymous with brilliant / great / fabulous / impressive etc. Well, as the song goes, 'It ain't necessarily so'.
For example I think the originators of the 'Eden Project' idea would like to think of it as a big idea. However, the fact that it attracts thousands of extra cars onto Cornwall's roads and that they didn't have a big idea at the time of its concept on how to provide ways of getting thousands of visitors through its doors without adding all that extra pollution to our atmosphere from thousands and thousands of extra car journeys that people take to get there, means it wasn't a big idea but a flawed one.
I think it's about time we put the stamp of 'anti social' on the sign posts to these 'attractions' (speaking metaphorically I emphasise)that are built without the same amount of thought and money being put into getting tourists/visitors to them without them having to use their own vehicles, as is put into obtaining the finance for them and into building them.
Oh! I nearly forgot to add what I've said above also relates to the proposal to build thousands of extra houses, most as luxury housing for those people ie the already haves, to move into Cornwall. To cope with the thousands of extra cars used by all the extra people moving in we'll not only need to use thousands of hectares of land for the houses themselves, but if we are not to have gridlock throughout the year with all the extra vehicles there'll be even more land lost to so called 'road improvements'. Now where's the 'big ideas' when it comes to reducing car use? I know to difficult so ignore it.
If SUSTAINABILITY means anything it means making best use of existing resources.
By definition therefore, allowing in excess of 20,000 residential houses to be currently mis-used for non-residential purposes is UNsustainable.
ALL residential housing in Cornwall should be fully used for residential purposes before one new breeze block is laid or greenwash eco-shack bollicks estate put on paper.
In addition a study needs to be done to ascertain what Cornwall's comfortable population carrying capacity is without any additional loss of countryside to infrastructure expansion.
We can redefine 'Progress' to mean the achievement of stability, equilibrium and fully utilised existing housing and employment provision to match along with public service institutions whose first priority is serving Cornwall's residential population and not cap doffing kneebending to London politicians, profiteers and dilettantes.
SORRY..rant coming ...just read the information on teamkernows link..who are these quangos..under whose authority are they acting it seems to me they are part of a massive decision making process that affects every single man woman and child here in Kernow as well as other places and they are not even an elected body of people. Its almost akin to we have decided and you are going to like it scenario!.
This is economic terrorism and nothing more they stand to make a pretty penny from this proposed
urbanization of our land.
Smit wants to cover the whole of Cornwall under a huge glass dome. Those who live there will be referred to as team members and will be made by law to speak with a exaggerated Cornish accent. Official clothing of stained white T-shirt and denim shorts that were once full-length jeans will be worn at all times. During winter tweed trousers with braces will replace the shorts.
But it is a serious matter. AND ironically apart from developers it's the new in-migrants that will be benefitting from all the 'improvements' since European funding started rolling in as well as from all the proposed new housing to be built.
Council planners here on the ground are worried, but the London central government are setting the agenda, so unless Cornwall's politicians and electorate see the light and fight to get enough political power back (and more) to allow us to make our own decisions on how many extra houses and roads we can build without destroying all we love about Cornwall we've got a less than a bright future.
Good to see our planners coming out and joining with CoSERG and other groups in highlighting this extremely important issue!
Rise in county's road death toll
The number of people who have died on Cornwall's roads rises in the last year to 35, police say.
Film con man ordered to pay £100K
The man who swindled almost £2m in a film studio scam is ordered to forfeit £100,000 by a judge.
Triplets survive against the odds
A woman from Cornwall who gave birth to triplets 14 weeks early describes their survival as a "miracle".
Call for inquiry into fire centre
Fire chiefs demand a public inquiry into the delayed opening of the regional fire control centre.
Prison sentence for benefit cheat
A man who admitted swindling more than £51,000 in benefits over a six-year period is jailed for 18 months.
Divers face trial over shipwreck
Three Cornish divers accused of plundering a shipwreck off the coast of Spain are to be tried in a Spanish court.
‘NO’ TO NUCLEAR WASTE IN CORNWALL - MPs
Proposals to bring nuclear waste to Cornwall have been described as ‘absurd and irresponsible’ by Cornish MPs.
Route Partnership Plan for Penzance unnecessary
Their plan having been rejected by the public in the final exhibition in Septmber with 90% against the Route Partnership have decided to try again in mid January after a mailout and poster campaign.The Chamber of Commerce has been at the forefront of this campaign.
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