The Latest from Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney

We had a good turnout for the public meetings at the end of November, where I presented a slide show of information about our Neighbourhood Development Plan. We then had a good discussion followed by the opportunity for everyone to leave comments on Post-Its stuck on flip charts headed by different issues. These comments will be invaluable to the Working Group in creating a survey which we will all receive so that our democratic opinion on parish issues can form the plan we all get to vote on in a referendum. If we pass it, this plan will then have legal standing that can't be ignored by the local planning authority.

A few of the comments related to forming a community energy company that would generate and sell electricity locally and cheaper. I could get really enthusiastic about this idea. There is a similar organisation at Wadebridge called WREN. They also concentrate on helping the community save energy by good insulation and other measures.

The plan for photovoltaic panels of Millennium House looks like it will go ahead. The electricity generated will provide income and savings that can pay off the loan after five years. From then on we generate massive savings which should mean a reduction in our community charge.

I'm still working on the parish website st-ive-parishcouncil.gov.uk adding council meeting agendas and minutes; also downloadable copies of the Parish Pump. For those of you who do Facebook, our St Ive Parish Council page is still being updated with parish news.

Last but not least, several of us are working on turning Pensilva Youth Project into a properly constituted charity so that we can expand what it does. I also want to involve young people in managing the project as full trustees. This has recently become possible since the minimum age for trustees has been changed from 18 to 16.


Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or "martin corney blog st ive" in search engines will find my blogs for you to comment on.

The Latest From Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney

At last, the Parish Council web site can now be found at st-ive-parishcouncil.gov.uk. I took the header sunset photo at the height of this year's heatwave and hope it reminds us that summer will return. As with the Facebook page, I'm trying to encourage interaction. So many of the pages can be used to leave comments. I’m still looking for contributions – background information about the parish would be good. Don't forget, if you want to learn and join in creating the web site, I’m still looking for volunteers.

By the time you read this, the Neighbourhood Development Plan public meetings at 7.30pm on 29^th November (St Ive Institute) & 30^th November (Millennium House) will be either just about to happen or over, (depending when you get your copy). Which is why we told you about them in last month's pump, but I'll mention them again just in case. The PowerPoint presentation for the meeting is available on the Parish Council web site.

The Facebook Page "St Ive Parish Council" (which non-Facebook users can view at www.facebook.com/stiveparishcouncil) is being updated regularly with local news items. Tell me if you want different items, or join in and be an editor/contributor. Maybe your group wants some internet visibility for your events – just ask.

There has been a minor case of vandalism in Millennium House (a broken ceiling tile) and now, in the evening, people are only allowed in on legitimate business. This means that those members of the community who used to use the reception area as an informal gathering point, mainly a few of the youth of Pensilva, will no longer have a warm safe place to meet. This has happened just when a few of us are trying to set up a proper youth club. Maybe it's good timing, as it shows that something needs to be done to provide a place for young people to gather in a safe environment.

Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or "martin corney blog st ive" in search engines will find my blogs for you to comment on.

The Latest From Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney

By the time this goes to press the window of opportunity to make representations to Cornwall Council about the Neighbourhood Area for the St Ive Parish Neighbourhood Development Plan will be closed – it ends 25^th October. No other parish has had a single comment at this stage in the process, so I expect that we will be made an approved area this month. So now that that bit of bureaucracy is out of the way, we can get on with finding out what you want the future of the parish to be, and making it happen.

It’s not straightforward looking at the future of the parish. Three hundred people in St Ive right on the A390, so good communications, but with few facilities. Then we have two thousand people in Pensilva, with the school, surgery and industrial estate, but at the end of narrow lanes. The trend shows an increasing number of retirees joining the community, while the lack of jobs for the young drives them away. This skews the population towards the elderly, with a surprisingly large number of single occupancy dwellings. I’m working on the Community Profile document which shows the current state of the parish, which is why I see these issues which our Neighbourhood Plan will need to address.

The Neighbourhood Development Plan Working Group has now been given Terms of Reference by the Parish Council, which at least gives us all an idea of what we are supposed to be doing. We will be looking to include “local members of the community who can bring value to the project” in the working group, so keep a look out for forthcoming events.

The Facebook Page "St Ive Parish Council" (which non-Facebook users can view at www.facebook.com/stiveparishcouncil) is being updated regularly with local news items. Tell me if you want different items, or join in and be an editor/contributor. Maybe your group wants some internet visibility for your events – just ask.

The parish web site is still very much a “work in progress”. I’m still looking for contributions – background information about the parish would be good. Also, if you want to learn and join in creating the web site, I’m still looking for volunteers.

Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or "martin corney blog st ive" in search engines will find my blogs for you to comment on.

The Latest From Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney

This month is centred on the internet, but we are making progress on the St Ive Parish Neighbourhood Development Plan, which we’ve told Cornwall Council we are starting. Please take note of the item from the NDP Working Group in this Parish Pump.

The Facebook Page "St Ive Parish Council" (which non-Facebook users can view at www.facebook.com/stiveparishcouncil) is being updated regularly with parish news items. Facebook users can "Like" the page and automatically receive these news items in their news feed. Your own personal online newspaper with articles about just what you are interested in. I use it all the time.

The parish web site that I have been pushing for has now been agreed by the Parish Council. This is the Mission Statement I’ve written which will shape the design.

Mission Statement for the St Ive Parish Council Web Site

“This website will be dedicated to the community of St Ive Parish and cover the topics of parish news and events, council meetings, local groups, businesses, and background information about the parish. The audience will be the community of St Ive Parish. We will be adding posts about local events, and parish meetings whenever there is something interesting to add - every day if necessary. We are doing this to enhance communication between the Parish Council and the community.”  

The web site will have a special .gov.uk address, which will take weeks to approve. So we have some time to plan, and get the web site right. I’m still looking for you to get involved. Does this sound good? How can it be improved? Do you want to help create the web site? Computing skills are not essential. We need; ideas, graphic design (photos and fonts?), writers, editors, planners, and I don’t know who else. I’m making it up as I go along. Why not join in? It could be fun, and you could gain new skills.

Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or you can comment on my blog. Search engines will find me at "martin corney blog st ive".

The Latest From Your Parish Councillor - Martin Corney

Well I did enjoy Pensilva Gala Day, I saw the young and adventurous resolutely facing the challenge of Pam's Climbing Wall, I manned the Pensilva Wildlife Group stand briefly, and had difficulty holding my camera steady, I was laughing so much at the Arrow Barrows. The light summer mist then drove us indoors, where I helped Steph and Ruth draw raffle tickets. Some of those prizes were still in the office, waiting to be claimed, last time I looked. Anyway, a really great day was had by all. So many thanks to all those who organised it so brilliantly, especially Ruth. After the fun, now back to the serious stuff.

For my own personal use, I've created a few interconnected blogs on Blogspot, so that you can send me comments. Most search engines will find them if you enter "martin corney blog st ive", and I promise to publish all polite comments. This is a chance for you to tell me what you think. Blogs so far cover; my Parish Pump contributions, internet for the parish, the parish Neighbourhood Development Plan, and my Green thoughts.

The Parish Council have asked me to lead a steering group looking at how we can best use the internet for the benefit of the community. I've created a Facebook Page "St Ive Parish Council" which non Facebook users can view at www.facebook.com/stiveparishcouncil. We will keep this page updated with parish news items such as road closures, and parish council meeting agendas and minutes. Facebook users can "Like" the page and automatically receive these news items in their news feed. The Facebook news feed is a bit like creating your own personal newspaper with articles from just the sources you are interested in. I think this has real potential.

In order to keep improving how we use the internet my next project will be sorting out the parish web sites. I'd like to get a group of us involved. If enough people are interested in volunteering for work experience, I'd really like to form a Community Interest Company based around internet services. I think there are lots of local groups and businesses that would like a web site. Please check out my blog for more details.

Finally the Parish Council have asked me to lead a working group for creating a Neighbourhood Development Plan. (If you want something done fast, give the job to someone who's busy.) A Neighbourhood Development Plan is our chance to decide how new building projects and other developments happen in the future. The whole community can be involved in this. There will be a need to gather your views, and at the end we all get to vote in a referendum, which gives the Neighbourhood Development Plan legal weight. My blog has links to more information I've found on the internet, but remember that it's not the official way to feed back opinion to the Parish Council. We are still working on that.

An Introduction From Your New Councillor Martin Corney

I’ve just been co-opted on to your Parish Council, so I thought I’d tell you something about myself. I’ve lived in St Ive for the last 25 years, and for 22 of those years I worked in Devonport Royal Dockyard in the computer department. I took early retirement three years ago, which has given me more time to spend on my interest in wildlife, as well as gardening. Think about it – how would you balance those two conflicting interests? Well I’ve had to think up a few new ideas of how to grow vegetables while letting the wildlife thrive in my garden. The ideas don’t all work, but I learn.

I volunteered my name for the council because I wanted the drain gulleys in my area cleared out properly, and thought, “Don’t just moan about it, get involved and do something”. So when I saw that the Parish Council was short in numbers, I stuck my head above the parapet.
Because of my background in computing, the first thing that the Parish Council asked me to do, was to look at how we can improve our internet services. I’m still at the stage of gathering information. So if you have any ideas about how we can use the internet to help share useful information about things that are happening locally, please contact me. I can be emailed, martin.corney@btinternet.com, or ring me on 382450 (leave a message if I’m not in), and I’m even on Facebook. I’ve created a group “St Ive Area Internet Ideas” on Facebook where your ideas can be shared.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other over the coming months, and I still want to sort out the drains. Don’t let me forget.