Cornwall: Truthful blunt letter written by KMTU member regarding our heritage 'Ruffles Establishment Feathers'

The below letter has been sent to Cornwall Council. Oversight of Heritage matters in Cornwall has been devolved by the Westminster Government to Cornwall Council and a stakeholding body was suggested from the outset of that announcement.

Re: Heritage Kernow

I was one of the stakeholders who attended the Heritage Kernow meeting last autumn. I was to have attended its follow-up a few months ago, but that was postponed for an unspecified reason, and we've all been waiting to hear of the rearranged date ever since. We still haven't been advised of this.

I was, therefore, shocked and angered to hear that a Board has been appointed on which appear no less than four representatives of Historic 'England' (one of whom is particularly undesirable) and Natural 'England', and with notable omissions such as the Cornwall Heritage Trust, the Trevithick Society, the Cornwall Family History Group, the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, CASPN and LAN, and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, to name just a few. However these, and several other bodies with a Cornwall-wide heritage remit, were named in an acceptable Board set-up proposed by the Historic Cornwall Advisory Group on the 25th September 2013. Why has that changed, and who changed it? Why have the stakeholders that attended the autumn meeting not been consulted or notified? This new proposal is, in my considered opinion, totally unacceptable.

It was my understanding that the whole point of Heritage Kernow was to seek a total devolvement of responsibility for Cornish heritage to the Cornish people, and to remove it from the clutches of external quangos such as Historic 'England' and Natural 'England', and yet here we have an un-mandated Board that is top-heavy with them. It almost reads like "spot the token Cornish element".

You may know that a similar Heritage Kernow was proposed in 2001 and got as far as an inaugural ceremony, and an initial £1.4 million budget through Objective One funding. before it was killed stone-dead by the interference of one of those external quangos (you can read details of this on pp. 246-247 of "Our Future is History", John Angarrack 2002). Speaking as a person with a lifelong stake in Cornwall's heritage, I am not prepared to stand by and let this happen again.

I therefore have several requests to put to you with regard to this matter, and will do so under the Freedom of Information Act if I need to do so:

* Under whose authority was this new Board structure set up?
* Who was responsible for setting it up, and selecting its members?
* Why was no consultation carried out with the stakeholders who attended the Autumn meeting, and why have they received no notification?
* What is the reason for this fait-accompli being carried out without the knowledge or approval of those stakeholders?
* For what reason was the reasonable structure proposed on 25th September 2013 abandoned?
* Why has no rearranged date been set and distributed for the second stakeholder meeting?

I look forward to your prompt and full response.

Yours sincerely,

 Postscript: The Board proposed on 25 Sept. 2013 was as follows:

4 Cornwall Councillors (to include the Heritage champion and relevant Cabinet members)
Representatives from other bodies and associations that have Cornwall-wide heritage remit, i.e.:

'English' Heritage (SW Region); Cornwall Heritage Trust; British Association of Friends of Museums; the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council; Cornish Buildings Group; Cornwall Archaeological Society; Cornwall Association of Local Historians; Cornish Buildings Preservations Trust; Cornwall District Methodist Archivist; Cornish Family History Society; Cornwall Gardens Trust; Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; Gorsedh Kernow; Independent Museums; Institute of Cornish Studies; Natural 'England'; Morrab Library; National Trust; Representative of the Bishop of Truro; Royal Institution of Cornwall; Smaller volunteer-run museums; Standing Committee on Local History; The Trevithick Society; Cornwall and Tamar valley AONB; Keeper of the Rolls of Cornwall and Devon; and a future representative from the Civic Societies. To that list, I would personally add the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network (CASPN).

Excepting 'English' Heritage (or Historic 'England') and Natural 'England', only five of that list appear on the new Board.