Don’t let Cornwall be a giant theme park
HERE we go again! While the rest of us minions and old age pensioners like myself live day-by-day on what we can afford, Cornwall council want to increase councillors’ allowances to... wait for it... £15,596.99!! Now, a lot of our local residents would love to earn this sum of money, especially for a part time job you don’t even have to turn up to providing you do so once every six months!!
I was a county councillor and still kept my full time job with British Telecom and managed quite well thank you, and several of my fellow councillors did the same. As for the rubbish being circulated that you have to pay a good remuneration to be a councillor! What a load of codswallop! Every time I fought an election and with 25 years’ service I always had at least five or six candidates up against me and that was for the allowance of £3,000.
I advise people to go on the council website, scroll down to councillors’ “allowances,” and see what each councillor actually “earned” – and that doesn’t include milage and meals. You’ll get a shock! No wonder every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to be a councillor!
Culling the number to 87 from
123 next time may well save us taxpayers a fortune. When you do go to use your vote, remember which candidate will serve you best.
I have to say that when I was at County Hall, most of my fellow councillors from all the political parties were actually Cornish, now most weren’t even born here, so have no affiliation with the county, hence the horrendous decisions the so called “cabinet” thrust upon us, such as at Langarth – thousands of unwanted dwellings for the rich and wealthy! Plus wasting money in subsidising an airport most hard working Cornish folk will never use and couldn’t afford to... they live in another world! Don’t be taken in by all their spin and rhetoric, it’s a lot of you know what, just wait and see when May comes along how many candidates suddenly come out of the woodwork to earn the “measly” £14,870.50, that’ll answer your question!
Please don’t let our homeland become a giant theme park with all these holiday lets and second home owners taking their ‘pieces of eight’ out of Cornwall.
Keep safe, jabs coming soon and this nightmare will eventually be over. Can’t wait to hug and kiss my children and grandchildren again – or anyone for that matter.
Tommy Bray Four Lanes, Redruth, Cornwall Ex county and district councillor
(Independent)