Cornwall Council has been awarded almost half a million pounds by the Government to support the work being carried out to share services and buildings with public sector partners as part of the Cornwall Devolution Deal.

The move has been welcomed by Jeremy Rowe, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Localism.

The Cabinet Office has announced that Cornwall is to receive £470,000 of an initial £6m made available by the Chancellor in his summer budget for the third phase of the One Public Estate programme – one of the largest allocations made to a single council.

The aim of the One Public Estate programme, which is led jointly by the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association, is to boost economic growth and regeneration by releasing surplus Government land and property through greater collaboration between local and central Government. It also encourages local authorities to share services and buildings with partners to help reduce running costs and to use the money from selling surplus property.

The first phase of the programme was launched in 2013, with Cornwall Council one of 20 councils which were selected to take part in the second phase in 2014.

“Cornwall is delighted to be part of the One Public Estate programme” said Jeremy Rowe. “The scale of funding we have been awarded demonstrates the Government’s confidence in our ability to make the best use of the public estate in Cornwall, which is a key part of our Devolution Deal.”

The council has already saved millions of pounds of council tax payers money through its office estate plan which is enabling the authority to make better use of its key buildings. Successful projects have included the re-design of New County Hall and Dolcoath in Camborne, which resulted in staff moving out of expensive leased offices into Council owned buildings; the construction of a new purpose built building in Bodmin and the current refurbishment of St John’s in Penzance.

The authority is now working closely with health and the police to share buildings and reduce costs as part of the Cornwall Devolution Deal.

“This new funding will be used to support our work in bringing fire, police and ambulance premises together in a number of towns, building on the success of Cornwall’s first tri-service community emergency station Hayle” said Jeremy Rowe. “It will also help support the integration of health and social care facilities, which is also a vital part of the Cornwall Deal, and enable the devolution and greater community use of library buildings.”

Announcing the funding for Cornwall, Lord Porter, the Chairman of the LGA said, "Through One Public Estate, councils have shown that they are perfectly placed to act as leaders of place and deliver effective cross public sector asset management.

“Councils, which are already the most efficient part of the public sector, have reaped impressive rewards for their communities through their leadership on the programme, unlocking land to create vital homes and jobs, helping services to work better together, and bringing in money while generating savings for the future.”

As part of the recent Comprehensive Spending Review, the Government announced that a further £31m will be made available to include many more councils in the third phase of the One Public Estate programme.

Councils across the country involved in phases 1 and 2 of the programme have already developed plans that are expected to deliver 9,000 homes, 20,000 jobs, £129 million property sales and a £77 million reduction in public sector running costs over a five year period.