Future plans for a greener, cleaner Cornwall on agenda for Cornwall Council

Future plans for a greener, cleaner Cornwall were on the agenda for Cornwall Council last Tuesday. I spoke in support of the Vision and share it with you here:

“Together we can deliver a cleaner, greener, fairer, more inclusive Cornwall; not only is it what our residents want but it’s essential for future life on planet earth, including Cornwall.

I don’t believe they are expecting us, to do it FOR them; instead they want us to use our powers WISELY, enabling them to work with us to deliver positive outcomes for one and all.

So, why am I so passionately wanting all you to support this vision?

I cast my mind back to our young people on strike from school to get local and national Politicians to listen to them about the Climate Emergency. I spent time with them outside County Hall. Whilst I believed what they and scientists said, I could not envisage how society and local communities could make the necessary rapid lifestyle changes, to bring the required scale of changes about.

Then late February/ early March this year, most of us older folk and Politicians did not need young people to strike to make us listen to the scientists about the imminent threat from COVID 19. We found we could act with urgency and in a dramatic way.

Before that 1st lock down, a young women in my community, called Daisy, started setting up a Street Warden support scheme for people to volunteer to help their neighbours. I’ll be honest, I was reluctant to support it. I saw all the things that could go wrong, all the risks but under estimated the benefits. The benefits from what has become our local Daisy Chain are now written large and our residents survey shows this happened throughout Cornwall and what’s more – people want to continue being neighbourly, when the threat from this virus recedes.

Yes, people want to get back to seeing and hugging family and friends, but most do not want to go back to how things were. They want us to continue with those things that have reduced emissions, harmful to the future of our planet; they want to be able to engage with and improve spaces for nature around them.

So, I will vote for this Vision for Cornwall, for the sake of our communities, the planet earth and generations to come.”

Although the ambitious plan was supported, sadly this was not unanimous with no Conservative Councillors voting for it and some of our Independent Members also speaking and voting against.

The Cornwall We Want plan was drawn up after one of the largest consultation exercises in the authority’s history. It commits to creating a cleaner, greener and more fair and inclusive Cornwall, with key goals including becoming plastic-free and carbon-neutral, ending street homelessness and a real living wage for every job.

I hope you will want to read this and a copy is here: The Cornwall We Want – Meeting Papers approved