Cornwall Councillor Adrian Parsons Annual Report 2025/26

The Cornwall Council election in May 2025 saw a turnout of 37.21% and resulted in a shift from a Conservative run local authority to one jointly established between the Liberal Democrat and Independent parties in coalition. This after Reform gained the largest chunk of votes cast, 29%, returning 28 councillors but failed to negotiate a partnership with any other party. The Lib Dems had 26 councillors elected and the Independents 16.

Full council in February 2026 agreed the Budget, resulting in £59m of savings in the first year and a total of £154 over 3 years. There was disappointment expressed from across the political spectrum about the 'Fair Funding' review outcomes coming from the Government, urban areas are fairing better than rural ones. Council tax will rise 4.99%. An extra £43m will go into adult social care and an extra £37m for children's services and there will be extra money for housing and tidying open spaces. The highways budget has been protected after talks of it being reduced.

Cornwall has also missed out once again on the Governments pride of place funding which also appears to favour urban areas over rural ones.

Plusha Junction.National Highways have said they will deliver their proposed further interim measures in the autumn. With slip roads being installed to to pull in and out of the junction. Old Hill down to Two Bridges will remain open and continue to allow the right turn to Launceston, but the right turn out of Polyphant at Blackhill Quarry is to be closed which is far from ideal for residents. All the latest detail can be viewed on the National Highways website. However, some local mitigation measures will be funded by National Highways, subject to agreed funding.

Altarnun Parish Council Community Highways Improvement Programme application.The panel of local ward councillors decided that a physical scheme to support the forthcoming 20mph speed limit in and around Altarnun primary School could not be recommended until the new limitation had proved itself to be sufficient in its own right.

Highways Maintenance.Terrible weather has resulted in terrible road conditions making the repair of potholes and gullies very difficult. Teams have also been diverted to clear significant numbers of fallen and dangerous trees after the winter storms. They are now working to clear the backlog of highway faults and defects and thankfully fewer are being reported and the number of daily repairs outnumbering them.

Housing.Cornwall has set a target of 4454 new homes annually, an increase in the previous target of 2707. This target is part of the Governments aims and they have recently published a consultation on the national scheme of delegation relating to planning officers. In summary the proposed regulations will issue more powers to the planning officials within their delegated authority to decide planning applications. Whilst it would still be possible to refer applications to a planning committee of county councillors, far stricter criteria will apply which must be agreed by the Chief Planning Officer and the Chair of the planning committee on a case by case basis. Under the proposed new process current practices set out in local authority constitutions, such as the power for ward councillors to require cases to be called in for committee consideration or having trigger points for referral to committee if a certain number of objections is reached, will not be possible. Local authorities will need to amend their constitution to align with with the national scheme of delegation.

Recycling.We want to make it easier for everyone in Cornwall to recycling more and reduce waste. You can now recycle more things from home. This includes cartons, plastic bags and wrapping. This is part of the national Simpler Recycling legislation, which requires all councils to collect the same core materials for recycling. Cornwall already collects most of these materials, so we are in a good place to support the goals in our Resources and Waste Strategy 2025-2045. Our recycling A-Z is a useful tool, it allows you to search for items and see whether they can be recycled and which container they go in. The tool can accessed in this link: Cornwall Council Recycling

Launceston College. High needs pressures continue with no clear funding formula in view and no clarity on home to school transport costs. The latter being a major cost and huge concern for our rural area.

Special Educational Needs & Disability Funding. The 90% write off for local authority deficit accrued to the end of this financial year was welcomed.

Kit Hill. Following the parking review, we thankfully managed to get Kit Hill removed from the list of those to be charged, so it remains free!

Cornwall Airport Newquay. No valid Public Service Obligation proposals were received for the Newquay to London route and the council are now focused to trying to encourage commercial routes particularly to London City Airport.