Truro - a market town with a cathedral.

Truro councillors were informed for the first time last week that since July 2009 a working group has been meeting to draw up plans for a 'strategic investment framework' (SIF) for Truro which will spend part of Cornwall's EU convergence funding to improve transportation ('connectivity') and strengthen business infrastructure. Fortunately, it seems we have managed to get the timetable extended from January to March so that there can be proper discussion of the options summarised in the draft document.

Brought forward in the draft proposals are some elements of the Local Transport Plan which are sustainable, can be match funded by Cornwall Council, and will probably be accepted fairly readily by people who live in Truro. If the funding can be brought together for a park and ride in east Truro and parkway station at Treluswell (which is also in the Falmouth/Penryn community plan, and university proposals), people who are fed up with traffic congestion caused by commuting into and out of Truro may well say 'yes please'. Even if it occurs to them to ask questions about who is going to pay for the buses, trains, and drivers after the EU investment has been made. About half of the residents in the ward I represent (Trehaverne) will probably also take the opportunity to suggest that a more sustainable transport system means there is no need for the proposed distributor road.

Built into the draft document is an assumption that, to be made to work, park and ride must be backed by a robust 'parking strategy'. This will be music to the ears of residents in Gloweth, who have long been exhorting Cornwall Council to introduce a 'parking strategy' for the residential roads near Truro College, the hospital at Treliske, and the existing park and ride near Threemilestone, to stop people parking inconsiderately on their kerbs and verges. Presumably, this means the new park and rides will be expected to be cheap or free for commuters, and parking in the centre of Truro will be horribly expensive and subject to meticulous civil enforcement (as it is now). Truro isn't the only Cornish town where some people will be calling for fairer, free or cheaper parking for local residents, and they have my support. Cornwall Council's latest draft 'parking strategy' puts Truro - which is the fourth largest centre of population in Cornwall - in a category all of it's own as a 'city'. Like St Davids, Truro is a town that is only called a city because it has a cathedral. Plymouth or Exeter it's not. There is a 'large towns' category which lists other places in Cornwall, three of which are larger than Truro - if Cornwall's new parking strategy is going to have categories, that's the one Truro should be in.

As a Councillor, there is no getting away from parking, but other aspects of the draft Truro SIF proposals concern me more. One is a suggestion that £225,000 ERDF might be spent on a Truro town centre traffic study. As Councils without access to ERDF manage to design town centre traffic systems, I think it is completely wrong to try to divert some of the last, stretched EU funding that Cornwall will be eligible for into this everyday business.

The second concern is bigger. We were told that one of the reasons why councillors were not involved in earlier discussions is that the working group was 'technical'. That being so, you would think the working group would have drawn on the available technical studies which form part of the draft local development framework, which was recently scheduled by Cornwall Council to complete its inspection two years from now (December 2011). This includes important studies of flood risk management, given Truro is located in a river basin, and renewable energy - both seeking to address issues neglected in the earlier 'core strategy' document which failed it's inspection partly because of inadequate attention to climate change risks.

EU convergence investment is supposed to deliver zero carbon economic growth including new green sector jobs and businesses. My heart sank at the answers I was given about this at the briefing meeting. The Council has signed up to 10:10 at my instigation, and is utilising it's powers to promote microgeneration, but it didn't occur to me we would have a difficult job getting it built into the EU convergence programme planning for Truro. The draft document includes just one funding proposal to research and develop an implementation plan for an energy supply company (ESCO). Other aspects of the draft SIF document and evidence base directly contradict the renewable energy technical study produced for Truro's draft local plan. So it should be back to the drawing board with a need to make rapid progress on alternative additional proposals in the early new year.

A bright future for Falmouth Penryn

Last week I attended the launch of Falmouth and Penryn's Community Plan. It's a fine example of what can be achieved when the community - individuals and organisations - sit down to talk about what their locality and people need. In this case, both the range of organisations working together to develop the plan, and the number of individuals who responded to the consultation, mean that decision makers can be confident the community is genuinely behind the plan.

Falmouth and Penryn have had their fair share of difficult issues and community divisions over parking, proposed housing developments on cherished green spaces, and adapting to the presence of the growing student population; so it's good to have a plan that has been generated by the community and is focused on future solutions. Cornwall Council chief executive Kevin Lavery spoke at the launch and gave the plan his backing, including the regeneration, dredging, and development of Falmouth docks.

The launch is well-timed because EU Convergence funding is still available for 'strategic investment frameworks' to help develop infrastructure and boost the economy. As two of the community plan's themes are 'transport and the community' and 'employment and prosperity' there is scope to bid for funds to start making some of the community's aspirations happen. The strategic investment framework by itself won't resolve the issue of funding to dredge the docks, but if it is successful it will help to put in place some of the sustainable transport links that are needed, as well as helping to create jobs in the digital, marine, and renewable sectors. That economic regeneration would be very much strengthened if the dredging and cruise liner terminal also go ahead.

These are developments that I'm also backing as a prospective MP because it is the future that many people say they want to see for the university, Penryn, and Falmouth.

This week, Falmouth is in the news for another reason. The proposed new terminal at Penzance for the Isles of Scilly ferry was refused planning permission on Monday. I feel sorry for the islanders because the ferry is their lifeline, and the links to and from Penzance are deeply rooted in the communities and economy at both ends of the sealink. The battle lines were drawn at an early stage when it proved impossible to get objectors and the planning portfolio holder in the same room to listen to each other - until the planning hearing. Rumours have now started up that Cornwall Council may look to Falmouth to provide the future ferry service. This is something that the company that owns Falmouth docks is exploring, and Cornwall Council has said it is now an 'option' they are considering. From what I'm hearing, people in Falmouth might accept this - and even welcome the boost to Falmouth's economy if that's the way it went - but the town would never set out to purposefully break the strong, long-standing links between Penzance and the Scillies.

Falmouth and Penryn have a bright future ahead.