Less cars and planes, more peace and wildlife.

The peace, quiet, boon for wildlife and the community actions and bonding were more than just great consolation for the complications of lockdown, they showed us what we can do, don't need, really need, really miss and a little of what we probably have to do to survive and thrive as a species. Lockdown and concerns about the virus reinforced our sense of gratitude about where we live, have strengthened our resolve not to use a car for short journeys and to accept the restrictions , while enjoying the cultural immersions and chance to watch the places go by, that accompany only using surface public transport for occasional holidays.

While we worked our veg patch in the first months of the lockdown people we barely knew from the far side of our parish stopped for a word over the hedge, some even said "Ah, so this is where you live" as they walked and cycled to the beach. Surfers carried their boards under their arms or on a bike rack and it was lovely to see families taking their time to enjoy the countryside on a lane normally too narrow for the volume of traffic that terminates at the often oversubscribed carpark. The peace was heavenly, within a month flocks of tree sparrows, dunnocks and gold finches had re-colonised the road sides of the hedges, reclaiming the lane as habitat until, just after the PM hinted at the first easing of lockdown restrictions, on a beautiful day with goodish surf, when the birds were again displaced by traffic and our walk to the village started to be interrupted by the need to press ourselves into the brambles and blackthorn for the ever present minority of impatient drivers. For a brief while we enjoyed what countless generations of our ancestors experienced everyday, a normality that existed for millenia.

At the beach surfers expressed their enjoyment of cycling and walking for their exercise. One lad, who walked 1.5 miles each way, said that he liked the fact that the walk kind of committed him to going in even if, on arrival at the beach, he found conditions a bit disappointing. However many of those who cycled, e-bikes and otherwise, said that because the posts of the dog poo bin could only fit a few bikes locked on to it, they would be unlikely to continue cycling to the beach, once the concrete boulders blocking the carpark entrance were removed, for fear of theft by someone putting their bike(s) in the back of a van and driving off while they were surfing. Can the Council, National Trust etc. install bike stands, with a lock attachment/design, at beach (and other) carparks please?

Everyone I know has loved the grounded aircraft. Devoid of rumbling jets the clear skies, unscarred by multitudes of mechanical linear vapour trails, have been so bright and here we have not missed the whining light aircraft that buzz like large lawn mowers, for probably three of every fifteen minutes all day long, over this AONB on good weather weekends.

Now that local traffic is all but back to normal the intense difference of the first two thirds of lockdown have become marked although Cornwall is yet to be open for tourism when the difference will be much greater! Reading the other contributions on here it is clear that cars and tourism are a significant issue for many folk. Therefore these are issues that have to be managed differently in the future. Somehow we need to encourage tourists to leave their cars at home or at least at the place where they sleep once here. (Some folk from upcountry no longer holiday in Cornwall, preferring the peace, space and quiet carparks of West Wales and Scotland). Could the council sponsor or at least initiate the means for widespread, substantive e-bike and bike hire, accompanied by the possibilty of hiring surfboard racks and trailers for small children, beach equipment etc. ? Perhaps Cornwall could become famous for e-bike holidays....

Can our public transport be re-imagined a little ? If we think of the A30 (and the A39 and A38) as main lines and the roads to the beaches towns and main "attractions" as branch lines could we introduce frequent buses up and down the mainlines that link with buses that branch off ? This system could be used a family staying in St Agnes to visit say the Eden project or by locals to get to town or one of the many college campuses.

I have taken pleasure in the knowledge that a few youngsters, having found themselves with more time in lockdown, have got into vegetable gardening. In comparison with most of northern Europe and much of the UK we are blessed with an unusually long growing season / mild climate and thus well suited to small scale intensive market gardening for high quality produce. Such food production when done organically (or pretty much organically) is seen by many environmentally conscientious organisations, scientists and individuals as a necessary means of food production to reduce carbon emissions, restore depleted top soils, reduce pollutions, reverse declines in bio-diversity and increase resistance to crises (the resurgence in veg gardening across the UK this year has demonstrated that many ordinary folk are thinking about our ability to feed ourselves). Can the council link link with schools, colleges and land-owners to build on this? As the economic impact of the virus hits food costs and jobs while we still have to tackle global warming?