MP asks for more powers for Cornwall

CORNWALL MP Andrew George has urged the Government to give more power to Cornwall's unitary council.

Liberal Democrat MP Mr George led a Commons debate last week asking local government minister Ian Wright to give more powers to Cornwall Council.

It comes after he published an essay in March – Cornwall A New Beginning – in which he called on the Government to give the new single council the chance to run health services, decide how many homes should be built in Cornwall and decide how European funding for the Duchy should be spent.

Mr George said: "The Government wants us to build the equivalent of seven new Penzances by 2026. Yet the overdevelopment of Cornwall is part of our problem not our solution. Our priority should be to meet our local housing need not to turn the place into a developers' paradise.

"The Government forces Cornwall to spend its NHS monies in ways which undermine its core services. The appointed executives who dare to stand up against the Government and for local services are either sacked or pushed aside. These should be decisions made by locally elected people not Government appointees.

"Unelected Government quangos ultimately decide how Cornwall's vital European development aid is spent locally. Local people should have a bigger say through their locally elected representatives.

"From policing to planning, the new council should be given real powers. Otherwise the council will be treated as a local agent of central government. Carrying the buck rather than the power.

"I am pleased to have secured this debate with the Government Minister on the eve of the local elections. I told him that, whatever the outcome, Cornwall means business and we won't accept 'no' for an answer."