New Crossing Delayed Again!

Residents of Launceston will know how difficult and dangerous it can be to cross St Thomas Road. For residents living in the Priory part of town you almost feel like you are taking your life into your hands if you try to walk to the town centre.

For many years, local residents have campaigned to get a safe crossing and I have put forward the case numerous times to council officers and even persuaded cabinet member Graeme Hicks to come to see the difficulties for himself 18 months ago.

We were delighted, therefore, when the council agreed as part of the current year's budget to put in such a crossing. Ever since it was agreed, I've been trying to find out exactly when it would be happening.

We are now entering the final month of the financial year and the work still hasn't been done.

Today I received an email from an officer on a completely different project who coincidentally passed on the news that the crossing is being delayed into the new financial year due to 'a lack of resources in the design group'.

I've therefore written to Cllr Graeme Hicks, the cabinet member for highways, to ask for an explanation. Readers will remember that he sent an intemperate email to officers on the subject of highways works. Following that email, he gave local residents a reassurance that this crossing would be done on time. Similar assurances were also given by council officers.

I want to know why this vital crossing has been delayed and why neither Cllr Hicks nor any of the officers concerned told me or local residents about the delay. I want to know what other projects have been delayed and why on earth there is a lack of resources in the design group. I have also asked for a definitive date for when the work will finally be done.

I will, of course, post any response that I get.

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What's going on with the stadium? - UPDATED

Sorry to come back to the issue of the stadium again, but it seems that even the fourth floor bunker at County Hall don't know what is going on.

Today's Laurence Reed show on Radio Cornwall carried an interview with Kevin Heaney, owner of Truro City FC, where he stated that the club were fully prepared to play their part in the stadium project and were ready to sell their Treyew Road ground to a developer to help finance the it. Yet Cornwall Council insists that TCFC is no longer a partner in the enterprise.

At the same time, Cornwall Council is claiming that the developers INOX will be putting a large amount of money into the project - but INOX's boss told Laurence six months ago that they wouldn't.

And then, of course, there is the claim made by Scott Mann that the Tory group twice voted against any council funding for the project but that there is a secret plan to provide up to £16 million of finance.

I've said from the start that if a private company (or group of companies) want to build a stadium then, subject to the usual planning permissions, I'd be all for it. But I don't believe that there should be any public money involved, although I know that others think differently.

Surely the best way forward is to have an open and honest debate of all 123 councillors with no secret documents and no clever wordplay. If the majority believe that there should be some form of public funding then I would go along with this. If not, Cornwall Council should just back away and let the clubs and private businesses get on with it. It would probably end a lot of the confusion.

As a first step though, Cornwall Council needs to come clean about all plans, ideas and proposals for using public money and publish all documents relating to its involvement - whether it be direct funding, guaranteeing loans or financing peripheral aspects of the stadium project such as roads and infrastructure. Someone in the County Hall bunker seems to have an agenda and it is only right and proper that it should be brought out into the open.

UPDATE - Rob Saltmarsh, the MD of the Inox Group, has responded to Bob Egerton's email. You can read it in full on Graham Smith's blog here. I'm happy that Mr Saltmarsh has shown a willingness to engage and have sent him the following:

Dear Mr Saltmarsh
Thank you for your email which answers some of the questions posed. The key issue remains... if Inox has been consistent about not investing its own money in the stadium (and I am happy to accept your word that you have), why on earth should Cornwall Council have stated that you would be investing alongside the College and Pirates?
Would you be happy to waive all confidentiality and agree to Cornwall Council publishing all details of their conversations with you so that we, and the public, can understand what on earth is going on?

I look forward to hearing from you

Alex Folkes

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How do we keep everyone on the electoral register?

The proposed move to individual electoral registration throws up a number of challenges - but it is also a move that is being done for the right reason, to lessen the chance of our elections being tainted by fraud.

A few years ago, I was a commentator for the BBC and others during the Birmingham vote fraud scandal when various councillors and others were convicted of running fraud factories. The move to individual voter registration was one of the results. It means that election officials will gather personal identifiers - signatures and so on - which can be used to check that you are actually who you say you are when you cast your ballot.

But individual registration also presents some significant challenges. Whereas one person in each household used to be able to register everyone, each individual will have to fill in a form themselves from the 2014 annual canvass. Experience suggests that young people, people with low literacy and people who rent their homes either from the council or privately will be likely to have lower registration rates.

As chair of Cornwall's Electoral Review Panel, yesterday I met with the lead officer on this project to discuss what could be done to pre-empt the move to individual registration. I don't want to see us suffer a large drop in registration rates and have to play catch up. So we need to be working now with colleges and schools, with social and private landlords and with the council's own housing department to think about how we can make sure everyone is registered.

I am also asking the Council to reach out to local voluntary and community groups, to businesses and to the public to ask for their ideas for how we can make sure everyone who is entitled to be is on the electoral register. As ever with council services, budgets are tight. But I am sure that there are people out there who can come up with ideas of reaching large groups of people at risk of not registering with very cheap communication methods.

If you have any thoughts on this, please get in touch.

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Answers (and more questions) about the funding of the stadium

Last week I blogged about the questions raised by the resignation letter of Cllr Scott Mann, the former Deputy Leader of the Conservative group in Cornwall Council. In his letter, Cllr Mann suggested that his group had twice voted not to put an further public money into the project but that there was now a plan by the leader to spend up to £16 million.

I've just had the following reply to my questions of last week:

Statement re Stadium funding

Following recent media reports over the question of funding for the proposed Stadium for Cornwall, the Council would like to make it clear that there has been no proposal to use council tax payers’ money to fund the Stadium’s construction.

A detailed report outlining potential options was considered by Members of the Environment and Economy Overview and Scrutiny committee at its meeting on 22 February. The Council’s Cabinet will be considering this matter at a future meeting.

The Council has not changed its position with regard to the funding for the Stadium for Cornwall project. Suggestions in the media, therefore, that the Council has now agreed to provide up to £15 million of public money to fund the Stadium’s construction are inaccurate.

This is hardly the comprehensive response that those of us who are not part of the Tory group were after. Although there may have been no proposal for public money until now, there is still no guarantee that the subject won't be considered in the future (or, indeed, that it isn't being considered at this moment).

At the same time, another councillor has raised concerns about the company behind the stadium project. Cllr Bob Egerton has just sent the following email to all councillors:

Inox is the organisation that applied for planning permission for the Stadium for Cornwall and is also hoping to develop a large number of houses in that area. You may be curious to find out who Inox really are.

Website
There is a website www.inoxgroup.co.uk
In the section of the website entitled “Projects”, there are 6 pages as follows:
Olympia, Glasgow Coming soon
Truro, Cornwall Coming soon
North Devon Coming soon
Whitby, Yorkshire Coming soon
Sandy, Bedfordshire Coming soon
South Devon Coming soon
Curious that there is no mention of projects that have actually been finished, or even started.
The address for Inox Group is given as The Senate Building, Southernhay Gardens, Exeter. Nice prestigious address. Although the Inox group has ambitions to deliver a £300 million build project in Truro, they are keeping their costs down by not taking a vast amount of office space on a long lease; instead, they are renting a serviced office from Forsyth Business Centre in that building. This could be as little as a work station and a phone line. Very prudent.
In the section “About Us”, there is wording on Our Vision, Our Objectives and Our Prospects, but no mention of any particular individuals or even of any particular limited company. Inox Group is not a registered limited company, although there are a few registered limited companies with the word Inox in the title (more later).
Technically, it is an offence under the Companies Act not to display on a business website the name of the legal organisation, whether it be a sole trader, partnership or limited company that is responsible for the site. In the case of a limited company this should include the proper registered name of the company and the registered number. However, this is probably just an oversight and I expect that Devon Trading Standards have got more pressing issues on their desks to pursue.

Limited companies
The title Inox Group is not specific as to what it encompasses. However, there are 3 limited companies with the first word Inox in their names that have The Senate Building, Exeter as their registered office address. There is also Exemplar Projects (Truro) Ltd. at the same address. Some information about these companies (all in the public domain at Companies House) is as follows.
Inox Property Ltd. incorporated 2008. Last accounts up to 28/2/10 showed a net worth of minus £72k. The following year’s accounts have not yet been submitted and are marked in Companies House as “Overdue”.
Inox Capital Ltd. incorporated 2010. No accounts yet filed. Accounts were due to be filed by 19/2/12, but Companies House has them marked as “Overdue”.
Inox Capital Investment Ltd. incorporated 2010. Accounts to 30/6/11 filed and marked as “Dormant”, i.e. no significant financial transaction had occurred in the period covered by the accounts.
Exemplar Projects (Truro) Ltd. incorporated 2009. Accounts to 30/11/10 filed and marked as “Dormant”.
Mr Robin Saltmarsh is a director of all four of those companies. His fellow directors vary by company, but they all have the surname Saltmarsh.
Mr Robin Saltmarsh is also a director of Cornwall Community Stadium Ltd., the recently formed company that is the planned vehicle for the stadium project. (Co-directors are a Truro College employee and a person with a London address.)
Mr Saltmarsh is also a director of 5 other companies:
Moorlands (Whitby) Ltd.
Sustainable Projects (Sandy) Ltd.
Riversvale Ltd.
Ikona Developments Ltd.
122 Kew Road Ltd.
The accounts for the first two of those companies are marked as dormant. The accounts of the other three are all marked by Companies House as “Overdue”.
So, Mr Saltmarsh is a director of nine companies as well as the Stadium company. Of those nine companies, the accounts for four are dormant, the accounts for the other five are overdue in Companies House.
One could say that being late with the submission of one set of accounts is unfortunate; being late with two sets of accounts could be seen as careless; I am not sure what the right adjective is to describe being late with five sets of accounts.

Inox has promised to make a substantial financial contribution towards the Stadium project. (I cannot tell you how much they have promised because that was in part 2 of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee meeting last week.) The problem is that I do not know where the money is going to come from. It certainly cannot come from within the balance sheets of any of the “Inox Group”. Perhaps they are waiting on a postal order from their auntie?

Curiouser and curiouser.

Cllr Robertson is happy to heap public opprobrium on councillors who are late in paying their council tax. Will he do the same for companies that Cornwall Council is doing business with who are late filing their accounts?

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This Sporting Life

There's a horse running in the 5.30 at Chepstow this afternoon called 'The Mad Robertson'.

When even sport is against you, what hope have you got?

UPDATE - The Mad Robertson came third....

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The 16 million pound question

The reason for Scott Mann's resignation as Deputy Leader of the Conservative group (at least, the first reason he gives in his letter) is that there is a secret plan to put council money into the stadium project despite the Conservative group twice voting that there should be no such funding.

At full council on Tuesday, my colleague Doris Ansari asked Chris Ridgers - the Cabinet Member for the Economy - to repeat the assurance given by his predecessor that there would be no more public money for the stadium (beyond the £120k given for the feasibility study).

Chris's reply was rather cryptic. He referred to the debate happening at a scrutiny committee the following day. But if you read the papers for that committee, all you find is a non-answer suggesting that it is unlikely that any public money would be involved. But there was also a confidential paper which I haven't seen (despite asking for it) and I have no idea of its contents.

So did that paper commit the council to spending more money, either directly or as backup to the main partners? In the light of Scott's resignation letter, I think that all councillors, and the public, has a right to know. And so I have sent the following letter to Cllr Ridgers and to Council Leader Alec Robertson:

Hi Chris
On Tuesday, when asked at full council about investment in the stadium project, you said that we should wait for the debate at E&E scrutiny the following day. For those of us unable to make that meeting, all we had to go on was the public paper which seemed to indicate that there would be no further public money going into the project.

Scott's resignation letter today talked about a secret plan to invest up to £16m of public money in the project despite, he said, the Conservative group voting twice against such a plan.

I think that all councillors, and the people of Cornwall, are due an explanation, unequivocally and in the open. Will you give an undertaking that there will be no further public money invested in the stadium project. If not, will you set out the plans and allow all members to vote on them as they were able to when they voted in favour of Fiona's amendment against capital investment as part of last year's budget process.

I look forward to hearing from you

Alex

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Scott Mann resigns and questions Robertson's leadership

Andrew Wallis has published the resignation letter from the Deputy Leader of the Conservative group - Scott Mann - to Alec Robertson, Leader of the Tory group and Leader of Cornwall Council.

Scott certainly isn't pulling his punches as the following excerpts show:

"I’m afraid that the straw that broke the camels back is the funding of the stadium for Cornwall. Although the group are generally supportive of the stadium they have made it clear on two separate occasions that no tax payer funding should be used. However a report is now being presented asking for 12-16 million pounds worth of funding."

"I am of the view that the aims and ambitions of the council need to reflect our supported will as a group. It is very apparent that this has not been the case here. Another example would be the CDC review after our group asked for greater probity and control with their accounts further funding is being put in place with no control over spend."

"There appears to be separation from what the group are saying and what you are doing."

"It is my view that your leadership style is one that is not conducive to democratic decision making"

As the saying goes - wow! Where this leaves Alec Robertson and his leadership of the council is anyone's guess.

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