Cllr Dulcie Tudor, Independent, Threemilestone and Chacewater

On Tuesday, Cornwall councillors were due to be asked to approve a 4.99 per cent increase to council tax, to include a two per cent levy to support the growing demand for adult social services.

There’s been widespread public condemnation of the way Cornwall Council is being run, and I myself am angry about my tax bill going up. But when the majority of local authorities across the country are either going bust or in some cases asking the government to allow an increase of 10 or even 20 per cent in their council tax levies, it doesn’t make sense to single Cornwall out for criticism.

I’m not saying money hasn’t been wasted through both incompetence and mismanagement. The Saints Trail, Spaceport and Langarth Garden Village are all projects, to name a few, providing a constant money-go-round for costly consultants, paid for with money from our taxes.

But even if you could recoup all the money the council has spent on questionable schemes, it still wouldn’t touch the sides of the huge hole that has been created since 2010, when the Tory government started significantly reducing the level of Government grant.

Since then, Government has dished out money differently. Councils have been offered a share of politicised funding streams like the Town Deal Fund, the Community Levelling Up Fund and the Shared Prosperity Fund. Accessing these funding pots for any local projects involves paying for months of work by - you guessed it - more consultants.

I was hoping our new government would prioritise saving local services, but no. Any funding that might save Cornwall Council from going bust comes with the most politically unpalatable condition of all: a merger with Devon.

On Tuesday, council leader Cllr Linda Taylor will say prudent financial planning has ensured sustainable services, with a council tax of JUST 4.99 per cent. That’s cold comfort to anyone already struggling to make ends meet.

In reality, like most other local authorities across the land, they’ve simply rearranged the deck chairs on a fast-sinking ship, as anyone reliant on public transport or with a special needs child and/or care package can attest.

Until ALL local leaders put politics aside, admit they can’t manage and unite to lobby for a half-decent government grant for councils across the board, we will continue to witness the managed decline of local services by one party group after another until there’s nothing left to argue over.