Cornwall council

Cornwall car park price rises from Calum MacDougall on Vimeo.

Car parking prices in Cornish towns are set to rocket, leaving many fearing for the future of high street businesses.

Drivers may well now choose to stay away from town centres and head to the out of town superstores, according to Councillor Jeremy Rowe.

Libraries across the county have reduced their opening times to save more than £1.5m.

Cornwall Council has decided to spare its 32 libraries from closure despite plans to save almost £250,000 a year from its £7m budget in the face of government cuts.

Savings will be made by reducing opening hours when demand is at its lowest and cutting money spent on new books.

Council leaders are calling on the Government to reconsider cuts to the UK coastguard service.

Leader Alec Robertson and chairman Pat Harvey, are among those who have signed a letter to maritime and shipping minister Mike Penning raising their concerns about the proposals.

The number of coastguard offices around the UK coastline could drop from 18 to eight, and Falmouth will become a "sub-centre", only operating in daylight hours.

Anti-supermarket protesters in North Cornwall are celebrating after Cornwall Council threw out plans for two new superstores in Wadebridge.

Councillors decided that the bids from Morrison's and Sainsbury's would damage local shops and businesses.

Councillor Jeremy Rowe said the expected impact on the town centre was too important to ignore.

Police want to trace a group of young people seen near the scene of a large commercial garage fire in Russell Street, Liskeard.

The fire, which broke out on Monday night, is being treated as arson.  Nearly 200 people were evacuated from nearby properties over fears that gas cylinders and other potential hazardous cylinders could explode.

Cornwall Council is to consult the public on plans to equalise parking fees across the county.

Councillors have recommended that all parking rates are the same across Cornwall.  This follows the amalgamation of the county's six district councils into a new unitary authority.

A five per cent rise in parking charges was applied across the county earlier this month, with prices frozen on charges for the first hour of parking.

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Electric cars could help reduce Cornwall Council's carbon emissions within the next two years.

The plan is part of the £9 million Green Cornwall programme launched by the council's cabinet.

If the proposal goes ahead, there will be a network of electric sockets to plug in the cars around the county. The first to benefit will be Cornwall Council staff.

Tim German, head of Low Carbon Cornwall says the move will have a big impact on the county’s carbon footprint

Tim German, head of Low Carbon Cornwall says the move will have a big impact on the county’s carbon footprint

The fate of Wadebridge’s Higher Trenant office has been put on hold.

The building's future will now be decided as part of Cornwall Council's wider office accomodation review.  The council will consider the possibility of refurbishing and upgrading the 20-year-old property.

Strong opposition from Wadebridge residents left Cabinet members with little choice but to postpone its decision to sell off the former North Cornwall District Council office.

Councillor Jeremy Rowe has hit back against claims that members of Cornwall council have formed a “schoolboy Twitter gang”.

The ThisIsCornwall website accused him and four other councillors of flouting instructions not to record and broadcast council meetings, by posting on the micro-blogging social media site Twitter during the debate.

But Councillor Rowe compared the in-meeting tweeting to the taking of long-hand notes, which many councillors do. He said that it was the same thing, only shared with the public.

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