Cllr Howard Sykes, LGA Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said: “I am pleased to see that my recent call to Liberal Democrat councillors to send us examples of good practice is being heard. Here is an example from Cornwall – please keep sending them to: libdem.info@local.gov.uk”.
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Cllr Adam Paynter, the Liberal Democrat leader of Cornwall Council has delivered a rallying call for the county to be ambitious. It includes:
- Funding for 750 not-for-profit groups to support their communities
- Giving local communities more control on where development happens across Cornwall
- Devolving a combined budget of £1m per year to community networks to spend on small road schemes
- Securing £17m worth of investment into Cornwall’s buses with 700,000 extra journeys on the network, working with partners to launch contactless ticketing and improved signalling on Cornwall’s main rail line
- Devolving six more libraries, whilst at the same time Cornwall achieved the best take up regionally of the summer reading challenge by school children
Delivering his first State of Cornwall in the National Context speech at a recent Cornwall Council meeting, Cllr Paynter said: “In a world such as this it would be easy to shrink away from responsibility, looking passively at the events of the wider world. But I believe that now, more than ever, is the time for leadership; the time for putting Cornwall firmly on the map in the consciousness not only of people in these islands but beyond; the time to create a vision for our people that provides opportunity for one and all.”
He talked about the fight to secure new powers for the residents of Cornwall through New Frontiers. The proposal was agreed by all partners on the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Leadership Board for changing the region’s economy to bring an additional £2bn and create 20,000 new jobs by 2030, and the council’s ‘Fairer Funding’ campaign, which over 88,000 people saw on social media.
Cllr Paynter said: “Working closely with the Local Enterprise Partnership on which I sit, Cornwall is now attracting national and international interest in its world class areas such as creative and digital industries, and is ambitious in emerging areas such as space technologies with its Spaceport bid. This council has also levered in European funding to support low carbon projects including the UK’s first deep geothermal project, enabling energy to be generated from hot rocks.
“We need to grow our strengths in global industries like renewable energy, creative and digital technologies, and build on our mining heritage to exploit our lithium resources to develop batteries for electric vehicles.”