Tuesday 28 February 2012

TOWN COUNCIL REPORT

Councillor Armand Toms
Council Report Looe East and St Martins Ward



1.                  TESCO’S CONSULTATION

As members will know that on the 24th and 25th of February Tesco’s held a consultation day at the Community School.   I attended both days to get a feeling of what the community thought of this project.   On the Friday 370 approximately attended and on the Saturday it was very busy to start and tailed off towards lunch.   From those I talked to there was a clear view of support by numbers but many against had a clear argument.  To this end I would ask the council to consider two courses of action

a.      We carry out a town wide consultation and consider the responses during any planning application
b.      Carry out an independent impact review of the effect of any store on the town

Council and councillors views appreciated

2.                  CORNWALL COUNCIL BUDGET IS SET

Cornwall Council has set it’s precept and after careful consideration has decided not to increase it’s rate which is good news for hard pressed families in Cornwall.   Key items of note are that Adult Social Care got an increase of £4m with £3m to carry out some intermediate work to alleviate future need.    Housing gets a boost with a proposed building programme of 4000 houses across Cornwall to meet some of the 23k need for social housing in the Duchy.  These will include 3k for Social rent and 400 lifetime homes for disabled residents, willing to brief any member on the budget if they so wish.


3.                  PLAY PARK SUNRISING

As councillor will know that the Play Park in Sunrising is in great need of repair and on the same site the old Preschool site is dangerous.   To that end I have had several volunteers that are prepared to get together and plan a new play area for the site and the possibility of a small skate park.  I have asked the council who are willing for us to prepare plans for consultation for the site in the local area and the STAR association.  This will take some time and the first meeting is still to be held but we will engage with the community and I hope that the council will support this project.


4.                  OTHER WORKS

Other projects that I am working on are a NHS Dentist for the town and more allotments, these are progressing well and I hope to have some good news for the next meeting.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Tesco's Consultation

Dear All,  Spent Friday and Saturday at the Community School talking to people who attended the Tesco's consultation for the proposed store in the field across from the school.   About 370 people attended on the Friday and it was busy on Saturday and a lot of people expressed view for and against the store.   Of those i spoke to there was a clear majority for the proposal but those against had a strong arguement.   I will collate the views and put the information on this blog, whilst this might take some time.  Issues that need to be looked at are the impact on the safety of the school and it's pupils, the vehicle movements on Barbican Road (plus the junction with St Martins Road)  and the impact on the businesses in the town.   It is up to the developer to mitigate all these during the planning process.   I will let everyone know when or if a planning application comes in,  this subject has divided many in the community and even in families.  After you have debated this issue please email me at atoms@cornwall.gov.uk your views,  these i will collate and present at any meeting to do with this

Thanks  Armand

Thursday 23 February 2012


Dear All,    As you will know that I recently voiced my concerns over the unemployment in the area and that I was especially concerned about the situation with our local youth with 205 being on the job seekers list for the Liskeard Looe area.    To this end I am working on something for our local area to promote Apprenticeships and the new government money that is available in this area.    Whilst waiting for a local meeting to be set up and getting the town council buy in for the idea and speaking to those involved you will see that an event is already planned for the Cornwall wide area and a poster is attached.   It would be good for this to get to anyone in our area that wants to be involved in giving our youth a chance.  I will still look to have a local event and would ask local business to give us ideas of what they are looking for or what there plans are so we can prepare for the meeting that will help them.  Please let me know your thoughts on this via the links below

Thank you for your help
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Truro and Penwith College - Business Centre

Cornwall Business Club

Calling all Cornish businesses: Join the Apprenticeship Revolution!
Join us on Thursday 29th March 2012 for the biggest Apprenticeships and Business event Cornwall has ever seen!
• Hear from Apprentice Winner, Lee McQueen
• Find out how your business can access up to£2500 to hire an Apprentice.
• Put a question to our panel of key influencers
• Network with over 100 businesses from Cornwall
• Hosted in partnership with JCP, A4E and NAS
• Compèred by Daphne Skinnard, BBC Radio Cornwall
... and much more!
Main event in Truro with live broadcast to satellite events in Penzance, Launceston and Isles of Scilly
Networking and canapes at 5.30pm for 6.30pm start.
Create the future of your business today! Limited places so book soon!www.trurocollege.ac.uk/cornwallbusinessclub
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Guest Speaker - Lee McQueen

Business Centre Image
Apprentice winner Lee McQueen has emerged from the experience as a grounded and experienced businessman who is now focusing on training raw sales talent. With two successful years with Lord Alan Sugar under his belt, the former IT recruiter has just left the Amshold organisation and launched the Raw Talent Academy to prevent businesses wasting money on the wrong sort of recruits.
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Q&A Panel

Put your question to our panel!
Sarah Newton MP
Michael Rabone
 - HR Manager at The Seafood Restaurant and Apprenticeship Ambassador
Sally Wilson - Learning and Development Manager, Cornwall Foundation Trust and Apprenticeship Ambassador
Paul Masters - Assistant Chief Executive, Cornwall Council
Helen France - National Apprenticeship Service
Carolyn Webster - Jobcentre Plus
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£1500 to say 'You're Hired'

Employers will be able to access a grant of £1500 to hire a new Apprentice.
The wage incentive ‘AGE 16 to 24’ is aimed at helping eligible employers to offer young people employment through the Apprenticeship programme, by providing wage grants to assist employers in recruiting their first apprentice.
The National Apprenticeship Service will provide up to 40,000 Apprenticeship grants to small-medium sized employers recruiting 16 to 24 year olds with a value of £1,500 to encourage new employers to take on new apprentices.
The £1,500 is in addition to the training costs of the Apprenticeship framework which are met in full for young people aged 16 to 18 and part funded for those 19+
Find out more and apply at our Cornwall Business Club event - Thursday 29th March 2012www.trurocollege.ac.uk/cornwallbusinessclub
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Working in Partnership

Business Centre Image hr


Barratts Homes

Dear All,  I have picked up some disturbing rumour’s about the above site and the intended occupants of the social housing that is being developed there and the allocation of these houses to people from outside Cornwall.  Can I firstly confirm that the builders or the council have not signed an agreement with Manchester City or Liverpool councils for people from those areas to have these houses and would never do so.   At present Cornwall has 23,000 people on it’s Homechoice waiting list and homeless numbers as high a anywhere in the country including London, so why would we allocate to other places.  In fact the problems are so severe that in the Council Budget just set the council had a housing strategy to build 4000 affordable home to buy and rent in it.  For details see Annex 1of the papers linked below


As you will see this housing of local people is a priority for the council especially in these economically challenging times and to be able to be considered for any of these houses you will need to be on the Homechoice list and you can apply;-



With this in mind and under the section 106 agreement signed by Barratts and the council which considered and looked at the first 100 homes being built on this site, the developer agreed to a rate of 40% that would be affordable,   this I might add without public subsidy.  The breakdown of the affordable element is as follows, 20 will be for Social rent, 12 will be for sale at affordable rates (see below) and 8 will be for part buy part rent.  The costs are as follows

70k     for a one be flat
87k     for a two bed house
127k   for a three bed house

To be able to purchase one of these houses you will need to have a local connection to the parish of Looe and be on the Homechoice waiting list, you will need to e mail below for consideration of these limited number


Currently there are 330 people from Looe with a housing need and with a local connection

I hope that this information is useful

Regards

Armand




Hi Everyone,  This is my first attempt in becoming a blogger and entering the 21st century, I will try and give the reader a flavour of life as the Cornwall Councillor for the Looe East and St Martins Ward.  Why will I be doing this? Because it is often hard to get the message out to people, I  look forward to updating people on events and plans for the area.

Thanks for taking the time to read this

Regards Armand