Cornwall Council to close Launceston Tourist Information Centre

Cornwall Council has taken the decision to close the Tourist Information Centre in Launceston. This is a terrible decision which will massively affect a large number of local businesses and mean a worse experience for many visitors to our town.

The Tourist Information Centre (TIC) shares the One Stop Shop premises in Market House Arcade. I've been in the TIC many times and have seen many visitors getting information about our town, planning days out and booking accommodation. All of this work will be hit if the Council's plans go ahead.

The difficulty apparently comes because of the way the TIC is currently managed. It is currently funded and managed via the Customer Services wing of the Council and is the only TIC run in this way. Others are either private, run by town councils or by Visit Cornwall.

Customer Services were in discussion with Launceston Town Council about taking over some or all of the running of the TIC in its current location. But whilst the discussions were still going on, it appears that the decision was taken nonetheless to end Cornwall Council's involvement with the service.

I've asked a number of urgent questions of the Council about this decision - specifically:

• who took the decision
• what discussions did they have with Visit Cornwall or anyone who deals with tourism within the Council
• why they did not inform the local Cornwall Councillors
• what consultation has been held with local businesses who help to fund the TIC as it currently is

I've also asked them to guarantee that this is not a prelude to a decision to close the One Stop Shop and withdraw services from the town altogether.

Certainly one of those kept in the dark was Carolyn Rule, the Cabinet Member with responsibility for tourism who assured me a month ago that there were no plans to abandon Launceston's TIC - although the Council would be looking for partners to help them with the operation. Carolyn has told me this afternoon that she knew nothing about the decision until I told her.

Assuming that the One Stop Shop is kept open, this doesn't appear to be a decision about money. Although not huge, the TIC does have some income and, for a number of reasons, simply taking away the TIC from the One Stop Shop is likely to actually cost the Council more, rather than less.

Launceston is not the biggest tourist centre in Cornwall, but we do have lots of visitors and we have been working locally to do more to promote our town and its attractions. Why the Council seems to think that it is ok to simply abandon us at this time is beyond me.

UPDATE - I've slightly modified the original version of this post based on replies I've had from the Council to some of my questions.

Why don't more charities use iphone apps?

Stephen Tall recently posted about using his ipad for business and linked to Fundraising.co.uk which discusses the use of apps by charities. The site shows just how few UK charities have an iphone (or ipad) app. How come the fundraising sector has not yet embraced this form of technology?

One answer might be the rules set by Apple. They apparently don't allow 'touch to donate' apps which might be one of the easiest ways to give. In other words, you cannot create an app which is free to download but which then allows the user to donate at the touch of the screen. This put paid to the idea of BullyingUK who wanted to include a donation function on their app but were frustrated by Apple's policy of not allowing nonprofit/charity donation facilities on apps.

But with the plethora of text to donate fundraising schemes, surely it would be possible to design an app whose very sale creates a profit for the charity. Although no charity has yet produced an entirely virtuous app - where the user pays for an app which is essentially worthless and the money goes to the fundraisers - there are a couple who have produced games including the Hoopathon, a virtual Hula Hoops Hoopathon game which cost £1.79 to download with profits going to Sport Relief.

Other charities have taken a different tack - producing a free app with service information but asking for a donation by text or online if the user wishes to contribute. WaterAid's ToiletFinder UK is one example, helping you locate a public toilet in the UK.

Other apps support events like The Marie Curie Blooming Great Tea Party or Movember.

It can hardly be said that foreign charities are that much further ahead either.

To me this looks like an opportunity that is being missed.

St Thomas footbridge update

I've had an update from Cornwall Council officers about the footbridge between Riverside and Westbridge Road. As I posted yesterday, the bridge is closed because of damage which the engineers says is likely to be due to water erosion. The works to repair it will start next Monday and should be completed in time to re-open next Wednesday.

Concerns over lack of accountability for Cornwall LEP

Last Tuesday, Cornwall Council unanimously agreed a Lib Dem motion in favour of a Cornwall Local Enterprise Partnership where we would invite the Council of the Isles of Scilly to take part (but couldn't take their involvement for granted). We also made clear the need for genuine democratic accountability.

Since then, it appears that some people from the business community have been trying to take control of the project and the Council's own website appears to take the involvement of the Isles of Scilly for granted.

So I have written to Council Leader Alec Robertson asking him to make sure that the preparations for the LEP follow the spirit as well as the letter of what we agreed at Full Council.

In my letter, I say:

The Council's consultation on the LEP seems to take the involvement of the Council of the Isles of Scilly for granted. The Council was quite specific in agreeing that this involvement cannot be taken for granted. The Council of the Isles of Scilly should be invited to participate and we need to make the case to them for their participation. Could you confirm what approach has been made to the CIoS and what response has been received? If no approach has yet been made, could you ensure that the statements being made by Cornwall Council are adjusted to reflect this?

We stressed in our motion that the LEP should be a partnership between the Council(s) and business. It would be entirely wrong, in our view, for the LEP to be dominated by business or for those who do not have democratic accountability nonetheless to have a veto on the work of the LEP. Could you assure me that Cornwall Council, whilst continuing to forge strong partnerships with business to make the LEP as resilient as possible, is preparing a bid that retains democratic accountability at its heart?

A Cornwall (and Isles of Scilly) LEP can be a strong voice for enterprise and development in Cornwall, but it must be accountable to the people of Cornwall.

Major road closures in Launceston in October and November

Residents may have noticed that all sorts of markings have appeared all over a number of roads in Launceston. These are surveyors marks which have been made in order to plan for resurfacing of the roads.

I've just received a road closure notice which sets out when some of the works will be done. The roads affected will be Wooda Road, Dockacre Road and the continuation of that road past the junction with Ridgegrove Hill almost to the Prout's Corner junction. In total, the works will take around 5 weeks starting from 18th October.

There will be a diversion route signposted which will take drivers via the Link Road.

A number of other roads are also scheduled for resurfacing works. I am told that these are likely to take place after Christmas.

Closure of St Thomas footbridge

The famous footbridge across the Kensey between Riverside and Westbridge Road has been closed as Cornwall Council staff have found that it is partly collapsing.

The works to repair the bridge are scheduled to start next Monday.

This bridge is one of Launceston's more famous landmarks. I hope that it will back safely open as soon as possible.

The photos are kindly supplied by Cornwall Council.

Is Cornwall a 'vanity attachment'?

Royal Mail is planning to drop the names of counties from their address database. They say that the names are not needed for delivering mail and deleting the line will save money and avoid the use of out of date names such as Dyfed and North Humberside.

That might seem like a perfectly sensible proposal, but the chair of the board that advises Royal Mail on running the database, Ian Beesley, went on to refer to the counties as 'a kind of vanity attachment'.

Many people in Cornwall, and elsewhere, will object strongly to the idea that their county (or Duchy in Cornwall's case) is merely a matter of vanity. By using such language to refer to an otherwise sound enough proposal, Mr Beesley will simply be inviting opprobrium.