Supplementary memorandum by the Cornish
Constitutional Convention (RG 16(a))
Following the recent hearing of the ODPM Select
Committee at Bristol I thought I would write and offer a couple
of further thoughts about what I presumed you were interested
in hearing regarding the Cornish position.
I refer to a resolution of Cornwall County Council
on the Lyons Commission Inquiry[15].
The resolution sets out a programme of work
which is now under way to consider a practicable proposition for
bringing together the whole public sector service delivery community
for Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly within a single delivery
organisation. The outcome would see the county council replaced
by a new, overarching body responsible for strategy, commissioning,
bidding/revenue collection, promotion and performance monitoring.
The resolution includes working with the Government
to form a clear understanding of any powers, functions or duties
which could be devolved to maximise the effectiveness of this
new approach. Service delivery leaders from health, education,
local government (including parish councils) and other services
(including LSPs) will be brought together around a "blank
sheet of paper" embossed with three key principles:
— Separate strategy from delivery.
It is intended to consult the community on the
eventual proposition prior to presenting it to the Government.
The process which has given rise to this initiative
has its foundations in a meeting held by John Healey MP at the
Treasury in April 2005. This was partly in response to the need
to consider future regeneration concepts in preparation for Convergence
funding, which Cornwall was awarded following the European Budget
settlement. It recognises the success of the Objective I programme,
both in demonstrating that Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly
is a vibrant, distinct and sustainable regional unit, and that
the delivery and monitoring structures are of a high standard.
Recently, Cornwall has submitted a bid for its
LAA which is widely acknowledged as of a high quality, and which
forms a very useful platform from which to launch the wider and
more fundamental reform of public service delivery which we believe
will demonstrate significant efficiency improvements, cost effectiveness
and improvements in productivity.
Just before the Committee Hearing it was announced
that, whilst starting from a very low base (64% of UK average
GVA), Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly is the fastest growing
region in Europe. This is an exceptional turnaround, and infers
that, if we are to sustain this progress then we need the right
administrative/leadership "toolkit" to do so. This is
the key moment for changes which can offer the government the
opportunity to develop a new model which can be seen as a counter-balance
to City Regions.
I think that some of your members are interested
in the notion of the "distributed city". Cornwall is
a peripheral region which has a dispersed settlement pattern.
There is no central conurbation, but rather a number of areas
in which there are different economic drivers—the sum of
the parts is a place which displays many of the characteristics
of a city—a complex economic base; low incomes, high house
prices; a strong brand. It is difficult when observing Cornwall
to simply classify it as rural—there is certainly a strong
rural element, but there is also manufacturing (surprisingly quite
significant and relatively stable), tourism, a strong service
sector, mineral extraction (china clay), higher education, a strong
creative sector and a distinctive cultural profile.
In many ways the geography and socio-economic
profile of Cornwall is one which lends itself to the development
of a knowledge-based economy in which transfer is effective and
market penetration is surprisingly more global than local.
There is a growing consensus for changes in
governance which enable Cornwall to build upon its success, and
which offer efficiency and productivity benefits as well as an
example for others to observe. As Mr Miliband pointed out, Cornwall
& the lsles of Scilly has many of the key attributes of a
natural region. To which I would add that it must be more sustainable
to work with nature than not.
Beyond Devon, life's full of surprises!
Gans gorhemmynadow a'n gwella
(Best wishes)
Bert Biscoe
Chair, Cornish Constitutional Convention
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=30393
15 Lyons Commission Inquiry, Cornwall Council resolution,
13 March 2006 Back
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