Last week I was able to follow up further for the good news
announced previously for Truro and Falmouth in previous weeks.
On Friday I visited the Hall for Cornwall along with the
leaders of the Conservative Group on Cornwall Council. As I have mentioned in
previous columns I am very keen for the Hall for Cornwall, as a ‘shovel ready
project’ to benefit from some of the recently announced funding from the Prime
Minister’s New Deal announcement. It was good to meet with Cllr Linda Taylor
and Truro Trehaverne’s Cllr David Harris, along with the team from Hall for
Cornwall to get the latest information on this project that is important not
just for Truro but for the whole of Cornwall. I will continue to make
representations to Ministerial colleagues on the benefits of the Hall for
Cornwall and hope to see them make a decision soon.
I also took the opportunity to discuss with the councillors
how Cornwall Council will be using the additional nearly £5million of funding
the Government announced it would be giving it last Thursday. I have not been
impressed with how the Liberal Democrat and Independent-led Cornwall Council
has used (or not used) some of the funding given to it by the government
recently, and want to ensure this new funding is properly used. In particular
as Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Local Democracy, which
works with the National Association of Local Councils to represent local town
and parish councils in Parliament, I want to see Cornwall Council use some of
this money to assist these smaller councils, something which it can do, but has
so far failed to do.
To go with my work with the APPG for Local Democracy, on
Thursday I was pleased to speak in the debate on the second reading of the
Parliamentary Bill to exempt public toilet operators from having to pay
business rates. This is small but important law, which my Cornish MP colleague
Steve Double has been leading on for the past eight years, and one which I have
supported since my time on Cornwall Council. Bizarrely, the operators of public
toilets, many of them already hard-pressed local parish and town councils, have
in the past had to pay business rates on these facilities, despite them not
being businesses. These rates can run to thousands of pounds a year and can
mean the difference to keeping these toilets open or not. I hope the passing of
this Bill will help parish and town councils be able to run them more
cost-effectively in the future.
Also on Friday, following Truro and Perranporth’s
confirmation of funding from Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez, to
crack down on anti social behaviour, I was pleased to welcome Alison to our city
today, along with Truro BID, local police, Truro City Council, Truro Safe and
local businesses.
We discussed how the funding would be spent, on CCTV and
street marshals, to help the community and police deal with this issue.
Finally, I am delighted to be walking 7.5km on 8 August,
from Tresillian to Truro along the banks of the River Fal, to support the good
work of Endo UK and help raise awareness of this devastating condition.
I was shocked to hear that it takes on average 7.5 years to
diagnose endometriosis and will also be working with Endo UK to change this.I
look forward to taking part in the walk to raise awareness and funds for Endo
UK.
If you would like to donate to my charity walk for Endo UK,
please follow the below link:
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