Invest in our young people
Like most people commenting here I have enjoyed the recent peace and tranquility. I have watched in delight as nature started to heal herself in the few months she has been allowed, I have loved being able to walk and cycle in relative safety and, of course, I want this to continue. Cornwall needs to come out of this heading towards a greener and more affluent future. The question is ‘how do we achieve it?’. I believe this is a multifaceted and a very long term project.
We need to start with our young people. Schools and guardians must teach and encourage their charges to be involved with nature and the environment so that they will want to save it. But the young people must also be trained and guided towards careers and futures in sustainable industries. In some cases they will need skills for jobs that haven’t yet been invented. Yes I know that sounds daft but nobody thought about computer programming when I was at school and who had heard of Zoom a year ago!
So, businesses involving green technology need to be supported in the county. That is not to dismiss traditional skills and crafts. Farming and fishing are vital to the county’s food security but, perhaps they too can be looked at in a different way. What about aqua culture and growing some vegetables and fruits inside under ultra-violet lights? I believe Cornwall has one of the highest, if not the highest, percentage of micro businesses in the country and these entrepreneurs need to be supported. It takes a massif amount of courage and money to move your business from your garage or kitchen table to a workshop and to employ somebody. Perhaps they could have rent reductions or tax rebates?
We have been conditioned by the private limited company Visit Cornwall and its CEO Mr Bell into believing that tourism is the only way forward in Cornwall but tourism accounts for only about 12% of Cornwall’s economy and I understand that about 40% of that is local spend, that is to say what you and I spend going out for coffee or a meal and visiting attractions. Admittedly tourism is a big employer but the work is often seasonal and usually poorly paid. So, let us stop thinking of ourselves as a theme park for England. No more planning permission for campsites or holiday apartments. Second homes to pay twice the community charge. Big, out of county companies stopped from buying up our villages and turning all the houses into holiday lets and destroying our communities. No more tax relief going to second home owners who use legal loop holes to make even more money. I believe it is better from a tax point of view to rent a property out for holidays rather than as a long term rental – surely this cannot be right. We are all tourists at some time but tourists should not dominate local lives. Those responsible for planning need to put our well being first and not focus on what would bring in more tourists.
We need good, affordable housing for local people, really affordable. However, in building affordable housing we lay the market open to more out of county people to move here, so to prevent that, nobody should be able to buy houses in Cornwall unless they have lived here full time for 5 years. I do not know how many houses are needed in Cornwall but that figure should be the target and no more. Westminster may not like it but Cornwall isn’t Westminster.
So, what can we do in the short term? Keep cycling, if possible, which means we need cycle ways into and between towns and somewhere secure to park our bicycles. Shop locally. Many of our small local shops and businesses have been life savers during this pandemic and we must not abandon them when it is over. If it has worked for you, carry on working from home. Buy local food in season, the supermarkets won’t like it but our growers and producers will benefit. Town centres can be enlivened with a coat of paint, colourful murals on dull end walls. Make towns, as far as possible, car free. Allow cafes to spill out on to the pavements. Encourage small and micro business to use the empty shops as workshops and offer rented accommodation above those shops in the high streets.