A COUNCILLOR has criticised Cornwall Council for not helping residents dispose of property that was damaged by the tornado that swept through Quintrell Downs.

Colan Cornwall councillor John Fitter argues the unitary authority should have provided a skip to make it easier for the dozens of households impacted to throw away items such as broken roof tiles and fences.

But Martyn Alvey, the cabinet member for environment and climate change, and Jackie Ward, the head of waste and community protection, stated a skip was not provided as the authority did not declare the tornado as a major incident.

Cllr Fitter argues it should have been declared as a major incident due to the “terror” experienced by the residents.

He said: “Given all the resources that were quite rightly made available to deal with the effects of Storm Eowyn, which as I say I fully support, the community and I do find it to be a very sad state of affairs that because of two missing words, major incident, the community is denied use of one skip, provided by the authority, where they could deposit the roof tiles that have been stripped from numerous roofs.

“I have invited Mr Alvey to meet with me and residents to explain what the council definition is of a major Incident is, because for the five minutes of terror that was experienced by the residents who suffered the effect of that tornado, this was a major incident.

“It was certainly treated as such by all the blue light services, Cormac and others who turned up to help deal with what I certainly along with others would call a major incident.”

Cllr Alvey, in an email to Cllr Fitter, said: “The tornado that hit Quintrell Downs was indeed a significant and unusual weather event for Cornwall, albeit impacting a relatively small geographical area, but requiring the attendance of blue light, council and Cormac staff.

“The definition of a major Incident doesn’t sit with the council.

“It is set out in the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) and is declared in accordance with JESIP.

“The council is a category one responder and as such can declare a major incident, but the wider ramifications of such a declaration are significant and the key words to take from the definition is beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations.

“Without downplaying what was a significant event for Quintrell Downs, it fell well short in magnitude of an incident that would trigger calling a major incident.

“Because the incident was dealt with as business as usual, the decision around the provision and use of skips will have been made by Jackie Ward in her capacity as head of waste.”

Jackie Ward, in an email to Cllr Fitter, said: “I am sorry, but we will not be able to support the provision of skips in the community for this weather event.

“The council did not declare a major incident.

“We would ask residents to use their house insurance in the first instance or failing that to use the household waste recycling centres for disposal.”