TO privatise a selection of services currently run by Cornwall Council , in my opinion will clearly be a mistake. However, I suppose only time will tell if it is a success, although it is a huge gamble with something that cannot be easily rectified should it prove a costly wrong decision.

If as claimed it does in fact eventually save the council money, then I would be interested to know how and where the money saved would be invested, or at least which other services could then be saved or improved upon. Additionally, will this enable the council to make further savings by reducing the amount of councillors. I believe it was democratically unbalanced for only the cabinet to have had the vote on this as opposed to conducting a full council vote, which also leads me to wonder if the cabinet system is right for the unitary authority.

One thing I am sure on though, is that whatever decisions are made, it will have no relevance whatsoever as to whether or not any councillor is Cornish or has a Cornish name. There are Cornish and non Cornish members of the cabinet who voted for privatisation, and likewise, there are non cabinet members who are against privatisation and some of these councillors are Cornish and some are not.

Gill Martin (sent by email)