Does Budock Parish have a future?

Budock Parish is recorded in the 1085 AD Domesday Book and indeed has given rise to both Penryn and Falmouth. In the current climate however, I worry for its future.

Cornwall Council is to reduce the number of councillors from 123 to 87 at the 2021 elections and a lot of work has been undertaken by the Local Government Boundary Commission to draw up new councillor areas.

As a result of this process, despite my continued efforts to prevent it, Budock Parish, which you will remember reaches out as far as Treverva and Lamanva, is now going to be part of Falmouth Trescobeas and share a councillor.

This is a ridiculous attempt to play the numbers game; how can one person truly represent such contrasting areas. The residential hub of Trescobeas with its dense population joined to a much sparser but larger geographical rural population, whose needs could not be more apart.

And the horror does not stop there, we are about to enter another more local boundary review involving Parish and Town Councils and those of you who have read Falmouth Town Council’s recent minutes will have noticed a very clear and open message that Falmouth clearly feels the need to redraw its boundary to now include either a part of or all of Budock Parish. Why is this the case?

Well, could it possibly be that all the new development is sadly taking place in Budock Parish and Falmouth Town Council is looking on with fiscal interest as Budock Parish receives the Council Tax from these new developments; which incidentally is less per household than those in Falmouth.

Reflecting on recent press reports in the Falmouth Packet, perhaps Budock Parish is being airbrushed out of the picture already. I refer to the recent report of the Mayor of Falmouth attending a stone laying event at Union Park, a development sitting in Budock Parish, the Chair of Budock Parish Council was not invited.

A report of a large tree falling in a Falmouth ‘park’, this was in reality a tree falling next to Pendra Loweth again in Budock Parish.

And a report in this week’s Falmouth Packet that Taylor Wimpey have commenced their Chy an Dowr housing development, and yes you guessed it, in Falmouth, despite it being in Budock Parish.

Budock Parish is one of the oldest Parishes in Cornwall, it must not become yet another ward in Falmouth and fall into historical obscurity.

John Bastin (Cornwall Councillor)

Budock