On Cornwall Councils Chief Planners own admission ‘’Langarth is a mess’’.

News release from Cornish Solidarity:

The entire Langarth saga was encapsulated in a remark made by a former Cornwall Council CEO to BBC Radio Cornwall that ‘’The Developers Own Us’’.

 Many Cornish people openly speak of the developer involved in Langarth as being ‘’dodgy’’ given that the developers track record thus far has done nothing to dispel that perception.

 Cornish Solidarity have recently  been involved in meaty exchanges  with Cornwall Council with regard to certain serious allegations against the developer in question revolving around allegations of threatening and abusive behaviour towards elderly Langarth residents who refused to sell their properties to the developer.

 If these allegations were to be proven to have substance it could implicate Cornwall Council in criminal behaviour that would cause it further huge reputational harm given the harm it has already inflicted on itself by being associated with this project.

 In relation to this there is also the unanswered question over who authorised the appointment of a former consultant to Cornwall Council as a senior officer in charge negotiations with the Langarth Developer while appearing to run his property development consultancy in tandem with his council post.

 Most reasonable people would probably see this as moonlighting and fertile ground for potential serious conflicts of interest, which Cornwall Council should never allow.

 More seriously the deal that appears to have been done effectively bails out the developer with taxpayer funds and rewards it for what has been perceived as highly irregular behaviour over time.

 This raises the question as to why the developer was not simply left to fail and the land then purchased more cheaply from the security holders?

 In view of this somewhat opaque situation, given that Cornwall Council has committed to hundreds of millions in borrowings at the behest of the senior officer in question, in order to become a property developer in its own right to create a ‘’Garden Village’’ at Langarth. 

The weight of public opinion evident in communications with our supporters persuades Cornish Solidarity to say that ‘’Enough is Enough’’.

 Therefore Cornish Solidarity calls on Cornwall Council and Sarah Newton MP to institute a public enquiry into the entire Langarth Project in order to clear the air before it proceeds any further.

 ANY LESS WOULD CONFIRM THE WIDELY HELD OPINION THAT CORNWALL COUNCIL IS NEITHER TRANSPARENT OR DEMOCRATIC RESULTING IN A COMPLETE BREAKDOWN IN CONFIDENCE IN IT.