Business – Cornwall Reports

Now you see it, now you don’t: new puzzle over how the future of Cornwall’s leisure centres is to be decided 20th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Confusion surrounds the date of a key Cornwall Council meeting which could determine the future of four leisure centres under threat of closure. A Customers and Support Services scrutiny ...
Chiefs and Indians: how many council workers do you need to shed to save £18 million? 19th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Cornwall Council is preparing to start formal consultation with trade unions over precisely how many jobs it will axe as part of an £18 million slashing of its ...
Technical problems force councillors to abandon scrutiny meeting before getting the chance to talk about leisure centres 19th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith The Cornwall Council scrutiny committee which leisure centre campaigners had been hoping would set up an inquiry has been abandoned due to technical difficulties. Members of the Customer and ...
Leisure centre protestors tell council: “we want an inquiry now, not an inquest later” 19th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith About 40 protestors, campaigning to save Cornwall’s leisure centres, lobbied councillors as they arrived for this morning’s (Tuesday’s) meeting of a key scrutiny committee. Many of those waving placards ...
Leisure centre closures: council committee faces 17 questions in 15 minutes, all of them from Wadebridge 18th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon All 17 of the public questions to tomorrow’s (Tuesday) Cornwall Council scrutiny committee have been submitted by people disputing County Hall’s proposals to close the Wadebridge leisure centre. Although ...
EXCLUSIVE: who is building Cornwall’s Kernow Sat? The plot thickens… 18th October 2021Peter Tremayne
By Peter Tremayne Mystery still surrounds the progress of Cornwall’s much-hyped “Kernow Sat” satellite, due to blast off from Newquay in only eight months. The satellite appears to have had its origins ...
Follow the money: County Hall wonders how its £1.9 billion pension fund might help save the planet 18th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane Cornwall councillors are being urged to put their staff pension fund on a course to become “zero-carbon” by 2045. The £1.9 billion fund is managed externally and is part ...
“It doesn’t matter what you’re selling – the customer is always right” – Leisure centre row escalates as County Hall prepares for big protest tomorrow 18th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Leisure centre campaigners and the boss of Cornwall Council’s private management company have clashed on social media over the real reasons why four swimming pools are now under ...
Covid-19: imminent arrival of half-term tourists prompts County Hall social media blitz 18th October 2021Anne North
By Anne North Cornwall Council has launched a school half-term social media blitz warning people about the continuing dangers of Covid-19. Cornwall’s infection rate is rising so fast that County Hall’s graphics ...
Cornwall’s leisure centre campaigners launch website to help protest against closures 17th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Leisure centre campaigners in Wadebridge have launched a website to help raise concern about Cornwall Council’s plan to close the town’s swimming pool. The Friends of Wadebridge Leisure Centre ...
Carbis Bay Hotel asks government planning inspector to allow unauthorised “G7 Summit” development 17th October 2021theboss
By Richard Whitehouse The Carbis Bay Hotel has lodged an appeal against an enforcement notice which was served after they carried out building works without planning permission. After being selected as the ...
Newquay Airport lost £3.4 million last year, as revenues plunged 69% because of Covid 16th October 2021Peter Tremayne
By Peter Tremayne Newquay Airport made an operating loss of £3.4 million last year, as revenues plunged 69.2% because of Covid restrictions. Cornwall Council, which owns the airport, has used a ...
EXCLUSIVE: Cornwall Council has spent months preparing its leisure centre closure hit list 14th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon Cornwall Council has disclosed that it has known for months that its outsourced leisure centre operator is seeking major revisions to the contract it signed only four years ...
Campaign to save Cornwall’s leisure centres given new urgency by council’s attempt to dodge scrutiny and force a decision by 15th December 14th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon Cornwall Council officials are trying to rush through a decision before Christmas about plans to close four leisure centres. The leisure centres under immediate threat are Falmouth, Launceston, Saltash ...
EXCLUSIVE: another Tory “transparency” U-Turn, as County Hall’s Informal Investment Panel bites the dust 13th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon The “now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t” Informal Investment Panel, welcomed by Cornwall Council’s Conservatives when they were in Opposition, has been scrapped after all. The panel was an informal forum for sharing ...
Cornwall’s leisure centres: protestors to tell County Hall that the long and winding road which has led to today’s crisis has little to do with Covid, and everything to do with a contract signed in 2017 13th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Cornwall councillors due to attend a “watchdog” meeting in Truro next week seem likely to be greeted by scores of protestors, objecting to proposals to scrap their local ...
County Hall sharpens its axe, adding St Austell’s council offices to those it wants to chop 13th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Richard Whitehouse and Julia Penhaligon Cornwall Council is considering basing most of its office staff at three locations in Truro, Bodmin and Camborne – which could mean that the base ...
The double-plus-ungood jargon that County Hall is using for its leisure centres “consultation” is failing to reach the parts that other public meetings are already turbo-charging 12th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Richard Whitehouse and Julia Penhaligon Concerns have been raised that a Cornwall Council questionnaire on the future of five leisure facilities which face closure is “biased.” The council is currently undertaking ...
Tickets on sale now for Okehampton-Exeter daily train service, resuming next month after a 49 year wait 12th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane Tickets have gone on sale today (Tuesday) for the first time in 49 years for regular daily train passenger services between Okehampton and Exeter. Tickets are going on ...
Hall for Cornwall prepares to reopen – after three-year £20 million redevelopment – but with no drum roll 12th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane The Hall for Cornwall is preparing to open its doors to the public tomorrow (Wednesday) for the first time in more than three years. The redevelopment, which has cost ...
The leisure centres “watchdog” has no plans to bark – unless prompted 11th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Cornwall Council has published the agenda for next week’s “watchdog” committee which is responsible for scrutinising County Hall’s proposals to close four leisure centres: Falmouth, Launceston, Saltash and ...
Time is running out if Newquay-London flights are to resume before the end of the month 11th October 2021Peter Tremayne
By Peter Tremayne The chances of passenger flights between Newquay and London resuming by the end of the month appear to be diminishing, as there is still no news of any ...
That’s the way the money goes (part 2): how the chief executives and business managers who now run Cornwall’s schools found themselves in the super-tax pay bracket 11th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Richard Whitehouse and Rashleigh MacFarlane About a dozen education “managers” in Cornwall are now earning salaries of more than £100,000 a year, following the conversion of local authority schools to ...
That’s the way the money goes: how accountants and management consultants now pocket nearly £13 million a year which is supposed to be spent on education in Cornwall 10th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Richard Whitehouse and Rashleigh MacFarlane Schools in Cornwall are paying up to 10% of their income to Multi Academy Trusts which provide “back office” services, from Human Resources to marketing. ...
Battle lines drawn as Cornwall prepares to fight for its leisure centres 9th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon Local communities across Cornwall are starting to develop their campaign strategies for saving their leisure centres. More than 100 people attended a public meeting at Wadebridge Town Hall last ...
Cornwall’s health bosses wasted £7 million on management consultants, say auditors 8th October 2021Anne North
By Anne North The hiring of consultants to transform Cornwall’s care of the elderly has failed to save any money at all, according to accountants. Deloitte’s annual auditors’ report on the Cornwall Partnership ...
Truro cancels its City of Lights parade for second year 8th October 2021Anne North
By Anne North Truro’s “City of Lights” parade for this year has been cancelled. The extravagant procession of lanterns, an annual event in the run up to Christmas, did not take place ...
Cornwall on the shortlist for 2025 City of Culture 8th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane Cornwall has been shortlisted for the 2025 City of Culture competition. Cornwall is now one of eight places in the UK through to the second round, from an ...
Cornwall Reports shortlisted for national journalism award 7th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane Cornwall Reports has been shortlisted for a national journalism award. Launched in 2016, Cornwall Reports is one of six nominated to be the Independent Community Website of the Year. The ...
EXCLUSIVE: Can we have our money back? National Highways protest at Cornwall’s failure to make progress punctures the grand vision of an off-road Saints Trail cycle path 7th October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon Cornwall Council officials are severely downgrading their ambitious Saints Trail cycle path between Perranporth and St Agnes, with parts of it now destined to become a life-threatening experience ...
No answers from Cornwall Council at its first leisure centre meeting, as Tories warm to a formal inquiry 7th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Cornwall Council staged the first of its “public consultation” meetings last night (Wednesday) to gauge reaction to the proposed closure of four leisure centres. About 30 people took part ...
Lee Trewhela quits Cornwall Live 6th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane One of Cornwall’s best-known journalists is leaving his job at Cornwall Live. Lee Trewhela, the website’s chief reporter, announced his departure on Twitter. In 2019 Mr Trewhela, a journalist ...
Cornwall Council paid QC £52,420 for report which said it was not to blame for Cormac-gate scandal 6th October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Cornwall Council paid £52,420 to QC Dominic Adamson, whose report on the “Cormac-gate” scandal cleared the authority and Corserv of any deliberate wrong-doing in relation to the serious ...
Twenty is plenty, say councillors, looking to make lower speed limit the new normal in residential areas 5th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane Cornwall councillors have backed a proposal which could see many more towns and villages embrace a 20 mph speed limit in residential areas. A pilot scheme is to test ...
The end is nigh for Cornwall’s banger racing fans 5th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane The end of an era is approaching for Cornwall’s stock car racing fans. A lease agreement made by Cornwall Council officials, without the approval of any elected council ...
Most of Cornwall’s car park machines are out of order because of staff shortages, says councillor 5th October 2021theboss
By Richard Whitehouse The “majority” of Cornwall’s council parking machines have been out of order because the company employed to empty them has staff shortages. Philip Desmonde, cabinet member for transport, sent ...
Remember, remember, 5th November – it might be the last time you see a firework, as Looe cancels New Year’s Eve display 5th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane Looe has cancelled its 2022 New Year’s Eve fireworks display, blaming a combination of Brexit, Covid and an international shortage of fireworks. Fireworks suppliers have been warning for months ...
Brexit food shortages mean we now need to dig for victory, says National Farmers Union 4th October 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane More than 54,000 people have signed a letter to Defra Secretary and Camborne – Redruth MP George Eustice backing the National Farmers’ Union calls for a commitment to ...
Isles of Scilly asks government for £48 million to upgrade transport link to Cornwall 4th October 2021theboss
By Richard Whitehouse The Isles of Scilly is asking the government for £48 million to upgrade transport to the mainland. If approved, the cash would come from the “Levelling Up” fund. Support for ...
City of Culture bids: Cornwall among 20 entries waiting for news from Manchester 3rd October 2021Peter Tremayne
By Peter Tremayne The government’s timetable for selecting the 2025 City of Culture is already slipping, as ministers failed to meet their own deadline for announcing which of the 20 bidders ...
County Hall says you must have a computer and internet connection to have your say about its leisure centre hit list 3rd October 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon A series of online “consultation” events gets underway next week to gauge responses to Cornwall Council’s hit list of four leisure centre closures. The council has not announced ...
The experiment is over and it didn’t work: hospital cleaning in Cornwall returns to the NHS 3rd October 2021Anne North
By Anne North One of Cornwall’s most controversial hospital cleaning contracts has come to an end with staff returning to direct employment with the National Health Service. The seven-year £90 million Mitie ...
EXCLUSIVE: In the thick of it on the Tamar Bridge – Cornwall and Plymouth try to squeeze three Tories onto a bicycle built for two. What could possibly go wrong? 2nd October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Yesterday’s extraordinary public bust-up on the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferry joint committee stems from a 60-year-old agreement between the former Cornwall County Council and Plymouth City Council ...
Solid gold backing for campaign to save Cornwall’s leisure centres 1st October 2021theboss
By Graham Smith Olympic gold swimmer Calum Jarvis is backing the campaign to save Cornwall’s leisure centres – and his brother Henry is standing for election to Wadebridge town council to ...
Cornwall’s transport chief claims he was deliberately excluded from Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferry meeting 1st October 2021Peter Tremayne
By Peter Tremayne An extraordinary row has broken out on the joint committee which runs the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferry service over whether or not Cornwall’s cabinet member for transport ...
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be: Cornwall’s latest local radio station aims to launch next week 30th September 2021Rashleigh MacFarlane
By Rashleigh MacFarlane A new local radio station is set to launch in Cornwall next week. Rewind Radio, specialising in music from the past 20-30 years, aims to go live at 8am ...
Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats launch campaign to “Save Our Leisure Centres” 30th September 2021Julia Penhaligon
By Julia Penhaligon Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign to “Save Our Leisure Centres.” An online petition seeks to secure at least 5,000 signatures, which would force the council to debate ...
Cornwall councillors on the “watchdog” committee have only three meetings to save the leisure centres 29th September 2021theboss
By Graham Smith The future of Cornwall’s under-threat leisure centres depends on a committee of 11 councillors being prepared to question and challenge County Hall’s ruling cabinet. The approach taken by the ...
In pictures: climate protestors return to County Hall 29th September 2021theboss
Some of the scenes from yesterday’s full council meeting. Thanks to Ilya Fisher for these photographs
“Cormac-gate” accident continues to cast a shadow over County Hall 28th September 2021theboss
By Graham Smith The Cormac-gate scandal, which left a former employee with life-changing and career-ending serious injuries, continues to haunt Cornwall Council despite the findings of an employment lawyer called in ...