By Graham Smith

Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats and their Independent coalition partners are proposing to slash council services by £133 million over the next three years.  At the same time they plan to raise council tax by the maximum 4.99% each year.

The proposed budget is expected to attract a small crowd of protestors at County Hall on Wednesday (17th December.)

Budget plans due to be considered by the Lib Dem-Independent cabinet – the day before voting in the St Columb and Colan by-election – suggest the council’s ruling political administration is doomed to become massively unpopular by the time of the next full elections in 2029.

Evidence of the political risks is already clear from the council’s own public consultation.  Although the consultation still has a long way to go, initial findings suggest the public overwhelmingly reject the Lib Dem’s priorities.

Despite their Thesaurus-plumbing search for slightly fresher language, these priorities are 100% identical to the previous Conservative council’s priorities.

The first cut is the deepest: £50 million in 2026/27 alone.  By bizarre coincidence, £50 million is the amount the council pays to money lenders every year to service the interest on its £1.4 billion debt.

That debt will have reached £1.5 billion before the next council tax bills go out in March.  Once it reaches £1.8 billion the council will be technically insolvent, with its remaining assets insufficient to guarantee further loans.  But usury appears to be the one practice which the council values above all others.

The cuts to council services continue in 2027/28 (£44 million) and again in 2028/29 (£39 million.)

As the council continues to celebrate its contribution towards a £2.3 million subsidy for Skybus, to shuttle near-empty aeroplanes between Newquay and Gatwick, a 10-page comprehensive spending review has come up with suggestions about where the axe should fall.

One of the most unpopular is likely to be the £2 million slashing of school transport, as officials try once again to make children walk to school.  The Lib Dems are advocating a £1 million cut next year and the same again the following year.

It is far from certain that the Lib Dems will succeed with this assault on school transport.  Once Cormac publishes its “review of routes” and makes specific recommendations, local campaigns will spring up – no doubt some in Lib Dem council divisions – and an administration without an overall majority will quickly be forced to U-turn.

The Tories tried it a few years and even with a majority could not make children walk two miles to school.

The proposed budget makes no reference to the Skybus Public Service Obligation subsidy, approved last month as an individual decision by council leader Leigh Frost without any scrutiny or debate.

Neither does the budget reference the £1.5 million per year subsidy to Great Western Railways, intended to attract tourists to the Par-Newquay branch line (to be rebranded as the Mid Cornwall Metro) next year.

Nearly all of the most ludicrous spending decisions have already been taken ahead of the budget, thereby avoiding too much discussion.

There is no mention of the £440,000 approved by councillor Frost for the Cornish language, and other “fifth nation” cultural pursuits such as subsidised camping holidays.

Nor is there any reference to last week’s £360,000 spend on creating “Global Cornish” – one of the daftest ideas ever to emerge from County Hall.

Instead, the “comprehensive spending review” is stunning in its lack of comprehension.

Among the targets are the council’s annual subscriptions to local government journals.  Somehow County Hall has been spending £3,000 a year to read The Municipal Journal, the Local Government Chronicle, Health Service Journal and others.

The spending review now recommends that County Hall should: “stop the corporate subscription to national local government journals and use other (free) media channels to keep abreast of local government news.”

As Cornwall Reports (excellent value for only £40 per year) is fond of pointing out - there is a good reason why some media channels are free.  It’s because they have no value.

The council’s handyperson service, one of the few indicators of any remaining civility, has long been a target of officials who do not understand the concept of “service” and who want to charge a commercial rate for helping those residents unable to help themselves.

There will be moves to make all council car parks cash-free.  If you don’t use the app, you can’t park here.  Car park fees will also rise.

Some of the proposed cuts can only be described as miserly penny-pinching.  The community services element of the council’s Crowdfunding campaign is set to be axed.  This seeks to save a mere £8,000.

Instead, in comes a new idea – a council-run lottery.  This hopes to raise £5,000 a year.  The spending review says:  “This proposal seeks to establish a Cornwall Community Lottery, raising funds for locally based good causes and for a Cornwall central pot, raising funds for locally based community benefits.”

The council also plans to save £25,000 a year by scrapping the independent chair of its Safety Advisory Group.  This is a multi-agency collection of people, including police and fire services, who advise on public events such as parades.  In September, the St Austell gay pride event was cancelled on safety grounds.  In future, such decisions will be taken by County Hall alone.

Few will complain about the council’s ambition to save £50,000 a year by not collecting commercial waste as part of the household waste collection service.  Those who will undoubtedly complain are all members of the tourism lobby, whose Air B’N’Bs and guest-houses regularly leave tonnes of black-bag waste to be collected at the expense of local council taxpayers.

In the event that the Lib Dems triumph in Thursday’s St Columb by-election, they will try to claim it as a ringing endorsement of their budget.  But if they fail to win (and Cornwall Reports will be surprised if they move from fourth place to first place) will they take any notice?

So far, 529 people have responded to the council’s online consultation.  The results, up to 1st December, suggest the Lib Dem-Indy administration is hopelessly out of touch.

For example, the council offered 40 subjects as potential priorities and asked respondents to list their top five.

The Liberal Democrat-Independent council's free-spending approach to subsidised flights, despite near-empty aeroplanes, and its ambition to quadruple the number of train passengers travelling to Newquay (by getting taxpayers to subsidise the cost of near-empty carriages) is in stark contrast to its approach to school transport.

Pot-holes remain the voters' number one concern.  The council's ambition to build lots of houses has been ranked 40th (out of 40) according to its own public consultation

The council's handyperson service is once again in the cross-hairs, with the Lib Dem-led council planning to axe its £250,000 budget line.  "Cornwall Council has recently completed an independent review of the Handyperson Service, which is now managed within Adult Social Care," says the spending review.  "The service is not a statutory requirement and currently relies on Council funding to cover its costs.  To ensure the service is financially sustainable, the Council is exploring new delivery options and reviewing its core purpose — focusing on essential safety-related tasks rather than general household jobs. The aim is to eliminate the need for ongoing subsidy while continuing to support residents in a way that offers value for money and meets local needs."  Last week, in pursuit of their "fifth nation" ambitions, the Lib Dems agreed to spend £360,000 travelling the world in search of rich people who might want to invest in Cornwall.  Someone will come home with a nice suntan.

County Hall’s attempts to expand Newquay airport came 37th, making it almost as unpopular as the new priority of describing future grant applications as being related to the defence sector.

Promoting tourism came 36th.

Most unpopular of all was the priority called “Strengthening partnerships to unlock housing delivery” which came 40th out of 40.

“Improving education” (3rd) and “Keeping children safe (4th) were far more popular, along with better public transport (2nd)) and most popular of all – repairing the roads.

Who was it who went in to the last council elections promising to “get back to basics?”

That could be a real vote-winner.

As expected, and despite promises of greater transparency, publication of the comprehensive spending review was delayed until Friday to ensure there can be no public questions at Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

grahamsmith@cornwallreports.co.uk