£600,000 expansion plan could be scrapped
MORE than £600,000 of tax- payers' money has been spent on expansion plans for Truro which now look set to be abandoned.
Proposals to increase the city's population by a third, build 6,400 homes, create 9,500 jobs and cut through countryside south of the city with a £34 million bypass are detailed in the Truro and Threemilestone Area Action Plan (TTAAP).
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Officers at the former Carrick District Council and Cornwall Council have worked for six years on the blueprint, drawn up to meet housing targets in the Government's Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). But the Conservatives have vowed to scrap the targets if elected on May 6. And now council officers have recommended a 10-year interim plan is put in place instead of continuing with it.
Figures obtained by the West Briton show £604,464.08 has been spent on the plan since 2004, excluding staff costs between 2004 and 2007 which were not recorded.
More than £400,000 has been spent on outside consultants providing strategies on landscaping, leisure facilities and retail, among other aspects. Document printing and exhibitions have cost £12,162.69 and £31,160 has been spent on survey work.
In total, the two councils have spent £20,268.08, while Government funding covered £584,196.
In a statement, Cornwall Council said all the work that has been put into the TTAAP "will be continued to be used and needed for the future planning of these areas". It would decide "whether to progress the action plan and in what form it should take" after the General Election. It continued: "Regardless of whether the RSS is abandoned, expenditure for the majority of the work undertaken is not lost in that it will be required to support the development of a plan for Cornwall whatever the regional framework."
Independent campaign group Truro Concern was set up by people worried about the growth of the city. Member, and Truro City Councillor, Armorel Carlyon said: "I can't really say they have wasted the money because the plans may still come to fruition. "
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by Big Ger, Truro
Friday, April 09 2010, 9:55PM
“By the bye, where on earth did you get the idea that this development would entail ;"the forced in-migration of another 9,000 people"?
Where does this forcing come from?
Who are these people who would "in migrate"?
I'd swear you get your ideas out of a Christmas cracker! do for the employment prospects of the EXISTING population of Truro and surrounds?”
by Big Ger, Truro
Friday, April 09 2010, 9:51PM
“So then, at your wish, I'll leave the useless MK lot out of this.
Can I ask you Calmer Carbon Boot Waters, how you think we can "ensure full year round employment and proper wages for the EXISTING population of Truro", without this sort of expansion?
You object to every change, do down any entrepreneur, cast aspersions against anyone from outside of Cornwall, and generally drag Cornwall down.
Yet you offer NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING in terms of how things should be sorted out for the better.
How then CCBW do you intend to improve employment in our county.
Give us one idea you have.”
by Calmer Waters, The Celtic Nation And Duchy Of Cornwall
Friday, April 09 2010, 1:51PM
“Big Ger
What has the forced in-migration of another 9,000 people do for the employment prospects of the EXISTING population of Truro and surrounds?
NOTHING.
All it does is create additional overdevelopment pressure along with a much more serious unemployment time bomb for future recessionary years.
As the Spanish have too dearly discovered we can't found a fully dimensional and 'sustainable' economy and protected environment on building unnecessary houses. All growth has limits - Truro's growth limit was reached some time ago - witness the Threemilestone road and elsewhere regular gridlock and regular excessive hardstanding induced flooding..
Big Ger - As Spock would say: 'Your position is illogical'.
PS Calmer Waters has no connection with MK and does not speak for them. The polite, appropriate and accurate approach on your part would be to leave them out of your concrete'ntarmac'nassfelt fetishist diatribes.”
by Paul, Truro
Friday, April 09 2010, 10:51AM
“Big Ger is right
P Lemon god knows how many people from Truro work in Tesco and Sainsbury how more local do you want? Where else would you like them to work? If you dont like these superstores don't shop there! But hundreds of poeple in Truro do and will always shop there...”
by Paul, Truro
Friday, April 09 2010, 10:51AM
“Big Ger is right
P Lemon god knows how many people from Truro work in Tesco and Sainsbury how more local do you want? Where else would you like them to work? If you dont like these superstores don't shop there! But hundreds of poeple in Truro do and will always shop there...”