IT is something you hear all the time living in Cornwall – rumours that councils in the north and Midlands are housing people from their areas across the Duchy to the detriment of people trying to find homes in our county. There are currently over 20,000 households/people bidding for a home on Cornwall Council’s housing register.

The issue, which has been debated at County Hall/Lys Kernow in Truro before, was raised again at the final full council meeting before the May 1 elections.

Cllr Adam Paynter (Independent, Launceston North and North Petherwin) asked Conservative cabinet member for housing Olly Monk: “There seem to be rumours speculating yet again about councils upcountry buying up social or affordable homes in Cornwall. Can you confirm or deny this is happening?”

Cllr Monk responded: “This is an age old question – ‘oh we’re housing people from Birmingham, etc, etc, etc’. The answer to the question is absolutely not. Logically, if you think about it, if you’re a council in Birmingham – perhaps not the best example right now – or any other local authority why would you spend all that extra money building and buying houses in Cornwall?”

He added: “That is not to say we don’t get very small amounts of people who are moving into this county who may be fleeing domestic violence, etc. Equally, we have a tiny amount of people from Cornwall escaping domestic violence down here.

“This question comes up time and time again, stirred up by racial prejudice. Other counties are not buying social housing in Cornwall to house people.”

The meeting also saw the Conservative leader of the council, Cllr Linda Taylor, admit that she didn’t think Cornwall will reach the local authority’s target of being carbon neutral by 2030.

Cllr Colin Martin (Liberal Democrats, Lostwithiel & Lanreath) – who is standing down on election day – pointed out that the council’s business plan set out its over-arching mission for a carbon neutral Cornwall by 2030. He asked: “Can you tell us how much money each council department needs to be able to actually reach that target of net zero?”

Before passing over to cabinet member for the environment and climate change Cllr Martyn Alvey for a response, Cllr Taylor said she didn’t think any local authority had sufficient targets to reach those targets at the moment.Cllr Alvey said that every department of the council was working on reaching the 2030 target and outlined some of the ways they were working towards reaching net zero.

Cllr Julian German (Independent, The Roseland) interrupted and asked him to answer the question about figures. Cllr Martin stepped back in and added: “It’s clear that no one in this administration knows after four years how much money you need. The question I asked was how much money do you need. Do you, as the leader, think there is any possibility at all that Cornwall will be carbon neutral by 2030?

Cllr Taylor – who retires on election day – replied: “I believe that the council will be, but I don’t believe Cornwall will be.”