Sensible, Sustainable, Sociable.

Cornwall is a beautiful place, that is why we live here and love it so passionately.

It is also why lots of people wish to visit.

Lockdown gave us all (well, certainly me personally) time to enjoy it during some of the best weather we've had in years without the hustle and bustle of the usual tourist season.

But that has come at a cost... A very high one for a lot of people. Arguably too high.

We, as a society, here in Cornwall need to understand that we have a very unique dynamic and one in which we must play to our strengths in a way that is sensible for all, sustainable long term and sociable for those of us that are resident here.

Love them or hate them, Tourists are one of the arteries of life blood of this county. They provide a 1/3 of the people with jobs and contribute about 1/5 to the local economy.
We do need to embrace this, but in a much better way.
Sensible and efficient transport links to help the fast and free flow of people in and out of the county.
Adequate provision to accommodate those who do come down. More available campsites, hotels and other facilities and a shift towards promoting more 'year round' activities in the area rather than just a summer time location.
But these need to be sustainable for the local economy and not rely on minimum or seasonal wages, or unduly impact the environment. They need to be provided with sound ecological principles that not only protect the environment, but also protect and create wealth and wellbeing locally.
We should encourage the creation of local businesses rather than granting the creation of this new environment to large national corporations who's profits go to shareholders elsewhere.

We essentially have one road, one airport, and one train line in and out of the county. The arterial routes off of that 'spine' need to be more efficient at dispersing that traffic.

We need better more adequate housing, but not at the expense of greenbelt land, or the exclusion of local workforce. Large housing developments can and should occur primarily on brownfield sites and rather than having national builders come in a reap the reward of that, we should encourage local people to build or train for that industry.

We should also be more compassionate to those who wish to take care of the land and protect it. I personally would love to find a small patch of land and build my own eco-friendly home upon it and grow fruit and keep bees, or to restore an old engine house and live quietly away minding my own business.
Yet gaining planning for such things is largely impossible, but we see vast swathes of greenbelt given over to massive estates or huge supermarkets.

We have the largest expanse of water around our county than anywhere else in the country, yet we do not make the best use of it. Fishing, sailing and other watersports could all be grown, if we made better provision for harbour facilities.

All these things bring money and jobs to the local area, but that is dependant on having a good turn over of those people in AND OUT of the county, yet retaining that economy here IN the county.

The adage of 'It's lovely to see people, but is also nice to see them leave" should not be underestimated, and that can be applied to business.
We need to encourage people to come down, but not necessarily stay permanently.
Bring in tourists, provide better facilities for them, and try to encourage a less seasonal focus on that industry.
We need to use our resources as best we can and export that resource as best we can.
Encourage local business, embrace the cottage industry and boost our creativity and export potential and invest in our green technology knowledge and local resource such as fishing and agriculture.
We need to discourage those who will use our resource and economy to take that wealth elsewhere.
Less focus on "big business" where local money/taxes are awarded to out of county businesses or housing is left vacant during the winter months as 2nd home holiday lets.

I run a small business here locally, yet I export all over the world. I do this with very little impact environmentally, I don't travel a lot and most of my materials and stock are delivered via courier.
I make good use of the internet (as slow as it is) to conduct that business and where possible I use local suppliers. We need to support each other.
I am very fortunate that whilst the lockdown has impacted me, it has not been catastrophic. I have been able to weather this through good financial planning and flexible working.
Some of my suppliers have not been so fortunate with the restrictions placed upon them.

We need to make better provision for recycling of materials and encourage businesses (and people) to do so, and not penalise them as a result.
The County needs to embrace it's green credentials, not simply putting up more and more wind and solar farms (something I am not entirely convinced over), but encouraging sustainable business, better local recycling initiatives and facilities, more solar in built up areas (on top of houses and factories) rather than on arable land as well as encouragement of enjoyment of the natural beauty of Cornwall.

We need to focus on long term solutions that provide jobs and housing for the local population and economy that do not come at the detriment of environment.

Think big, keep it small.