Letters to West Briton (unpublished) 25.2.10 regarding Housing and Council Officer's expenses

Cornwall faces an Exodus of our young people unless something is done about unaffordable housing.

I totally support Kate Tregunna’s letter to the West Briton (House prices remain out of reach of average earners; WB 18/2/2010) House prices in Cornwall are nothing short of scandalous, and are totally unaffordable for many people living here, particularly the young and those who have to get by on the minimum wage.
Housing development in Cornwall must focus on the needs to the local population . Too many developments aim at people who already own their own homes, and/ or those moving down to Cornwall. Meanwhile too many local people have to pay high rents for substandard housing and /or cannot afford to get on to the housing ladder in the first place.

The Cornish Green Party believes new housing needs to be affordable and for the people of Cornwall. Housing needs to be as environmentally friendly as possible, and where possible is built on 'brown field sites' so our countryside is not destroyed , and our county‘s identity is not eroded any further.
As a priority I believe:
1. Housing must aim to rebuild our local communities . It is much better to reinvigorate our villages and towns with small scale developments, rather than for example the monstrous planned development in the Truro-Threemilestone corridor which does not serve local needs at all.
2. Housing development needs to focus on affordable part-rent/part buy housing, and 100% rentable accommodation. Tenancies need to be secure so people can build a stable homelife, rather than uncertainty about regular eviction. New housing should be aimed at those priced out of the current market (i.e the vast majority of young people or people paying exorbitant rents in the private sector).
3. We should restrict housing in tourist areas being purchased for investment/ second home/ holiday let purposes. This may be achieved by ensuring there are planning permission restrictions; additional purchase taxes for non permanent residential use, and increases in 'council tax' for such property. The objective would be to reduce house price inflation in these areas, and redevelop local communities.
4. We should consider what has occurred in the Channel Islands. where some property is reserved for the local population, and subsequently prices are kept reasonable for them. It is a good imitative where some property in Cornwall has already been restricted for people with a 'local connection', and this policy should be encouraged and expanded.

We need to look out for those who need to have a decent roof over their heads, and stop the migration of our young people from Cornwall so we can ensure a sustainable future for the people of Cornwall.

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Council staff disciplined by bosses / £200, 000pa council chief heads expenses list. One rule for one, and another for the rest of the staff..........?
I could not help but darkly chuckle when comparing the contents of two articles in last week's West Briton. On page 2 we read that 78 staff have been disciplined by Cornwall Council in the last year, and on page 4 we read of Kevin Lavery, the council's Chief Executive, who has claimed over £10,000 in expenses in his first 9 months, despite his £200,000 salary. Maybe I pick on Mr Lavery unfairly as other senior officers in the organisation do not fare too well in their expenses claims according to your report.

It is just a shame that your editorial staff did not decide to juxtapose the two articles to amplify the irony-particularly as you note there were no cases of disciplinary action taken in the Chief Executive's department.

Some of the cases of disciplinary action highlighted such as 'racist and inappropriate language', and 'inappropriate behaviour towards a child', are clearly deserving of firm disciplinary action. However it is odd that other matters such as 'failure to follow procedure', 'misuse of the internet' or 'breach of the smoking policy' could not be dealt with informally rather than using formal procedures, unless of course these were repeated offences regarding the people involved. It is worth noting that high use of disciplinary procedures by organisations, is often recognised in Human Resources / People Management circles as symptomatic of a dysfunctional organisation. I hope this is not the case here.

I would imagine many council staff must be seething to read Mr Lavery has claimed nearly £1000 for 'entertaining' and over £7000 in 'relocation costs', particularly as he has such a well paid job. It continues to anger me that senior management in local and central government, as well those in private sector organisations, are only too keen to reward themselves so well on 'super star' salaries, and get what they can on expenses as well. Meanwhile the rest of us-particularly many low paid people in Cornwall, are expected to just get by on less, as well as being constantly threatened with redundancy, and cuts to our public services in these troubled times.

I do hope councillors, and the council's Human Resources department are scrutinising the senior management's behaviour as closely as the behaviour of the rest of the staff of Cornwall Council. If not maybe it is time they do so, take some action against those at the top, rather than just focus on ordinary council staff, who work so hard, under difficult circumstances, to deliver under resourced council services to all of us.