NEW ENERGY STRATEGY FOR CORNWALL

July 15th 2004

“We must not let Cornwall become the new Aberdeen of the sustainable energy revolution”

At the launch of the Cornwall sustainable energy Strategy at County Hall, Truro on July 21st Executive Member Bert Biscoe will say:

“Energy is central to Cornwall’s future economic, social and environmental well-being and prosperity. As a peripheral region our primary task is to persuade successive Governments that the intelligent way to enable the benefits and opportunities of modern society to be equally and fairly shared by all in society, whether they live at the Hub, or out on the edge, is to recognise the need to develop policy and strategy which achieves key objectives, but which responds to the realities of geography, economics and social structures. Nowhere is this a more self-evident truth than in the matter of energy.

Cornwall is accomplished at delivering regeneration and conservation programmes – we are recognised as such both in the U.K. and in Europe. This excellence in doing what we say we’re gonna do is part of the modern Cornish identity. We are like the buzzard on the wire – apparently still yet watchful and ready to pounce and achieve with skill and efficiency.

The cost of Energy

In terms of regeneration the region of Cornwall needs to find ways managing the cost of energy to our industries and producers. Conservation is clearly a key discipline, but the opportunity offered by renewables to invest capital in local generation, and thereby over time significantly reduce or even remove the revenue overhead of energy from the accounts, brings with it the opportunity to reinvest that spare money in research and development, improving wages and training, and marketing.

The opportunity of energy

Cornwall has the potential to become a flexible and important energy generator and exporter over the next generation. We have a unique opportunity to combine different resources and techniques and to profitably supply our neighbours. We have the opportunity to capture the creative, engineering and production work to make the most of our potential. Energy generation has the potential to put Cornwall back where she was at the peak of the industrial revolution – out on the edge, at the heart of the matter – a conundrum which may defy the logic of planners and pundits, but which captures truth in a Confucian way!

The poverty of energy excess

Cornwall remains the poorest region in the U.K. We must be absolutely sure that the present Government’s fancy for macro-regionalisation does not obscure or suppress the needs of Cornwall. It is all tooeasy to aggregate poverty with wealth and come up with comfort! The emphasis which we in Cornwall place upon energy conservation is central to our long-term plans to eradicate poverty and deprivation.

Cornwall Council therefore welcomes and strongly endorses the Cornwall Sustainable Energy Strategy. The focus upon Cornwall is absolutely vital – it is Cornwall which has the opportunity and the potential, and the innovative commitment and communications skill to lead this work for the Country. It is central to the success of the strategy that the Council places itself at the head of the team pulling the cart along – its no good sitting on the tailboard waiting for the horse to move – the Council must assume the driving seat.

Danger!

There is a danger that, in seeing Cornwall develop as a key provider of power to the Country, we do not capture the wealth which will flow from that development. What’s the point of having a University in Penryn if it is not producing innovators, developers and facilitators to ensure that Cornwall does not become the new Aberdeen of the Sustainable Energy revolution. Cornwall will work like beavers to make sure we capture this opportunity, but we need the support and assistance of the government to ensure that we can do so, and maximise the benefits.

This Government has been exceptional in its approach to Cornwall – it has listened, and it has required that we advance sound, evidence-based cases for a range of key developments. Most of all, the Government responded positively and creatively to the case for Cornwall to win its Objective 1 programme bid. It has honoured its commitment to match-funding and, whilst we could do with less bureaucracy and more control within our own Objective 1 region, has been flexible in enabling departments and teams to respond to Cornwall so that we have become the best Objective 1 programme in the U.K., and an exemplar for best practise in Europe – we’ve got a £17 million bonus to show how good we are.

Most of all, though, this Government has unlocked Cornwall’s potential, and this is now an ambitious, outward-looking, hungry region. We seek the support of the Government to allow us to build an institutional base – in both democratic and technical terms – with which we can develop and sustain our success.

Nowhere is there more potential for Cornwall than in developing sustainable energy policies and programmes. We have brains, skills, commitment and ambition.

I agree with Noel Edmonds when he says:

‘Britain needs an entirely different energy culture.’

Too right! Britain needs to develop policies and structures which empower its peripheral regions to contribute positively to national well-being. Cornwall has a unique set of challenges bound up in the blend of conservation, development and generation which is advocated in the Cornwall Sustainable Energy Strategy. In introducing Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Energy, may I say three things:

Firstly, Kernow agas dynergh – Welcome to Cornwall!

Secondly, thanks for training up Tim Williams at the Thames Gateway – you’ll be pleased to know he’s doing well, and Cornwall is glad to welcome a Brythonic cousin who is constantly campaigning for people to say ‘YES’ to Cornwall!

Thirdly, investing in the development of the region of Cornwall as a leading exponent of modern energy policy and delivery, as a region with the right regional institutions to enable us to make an incisive and sustainable contribution to the well-being and prosperity of Britain as a whole, is intelligent management of the periphery – a form of intelligent management which we hope will be sustained by a Government which has, so far, proved itself an excellent stimulus and friend of Cornwall.”

ENDS