Inox Breakfast Meeting

INOX have been briefing today at the Alverton Manor in Truro on their latest plans for a development which they believe will help fund the Stadium for Cornwall. They persuaded (by one vote) the Strategic Planning Committee to defer 3 other supermarket applications to allow their application to catch up so that all applications could be considered together.

Everybody seems to agree that there will be only one more supermarket in Truro and INOX want theirs to be the one.

At least 2 out of 3 of the other developers have now appealed. At the same time those developers have re-submitted their applications in the hope that the Council will think the better of their decision to defer.

Last week, the Council decided to slash spending, for example, on libraries and leisure centres, to reduce the road maintenance budget and cut school crossing patrols. No service avoided the chop.

So the Strategic Planning Committee need to know:

1. Is the INOX scheme (with the contribution to the Stadium) viable?
2. Can the Council ensure that INOX will keep its part of the bargain to help fund the Stadium?
3. Will INOX's Stadium contribution reduce the ability of INOX to meet its normal Planning obligations (contribution to roads etc)?
4. What is the likely amount of costs the Council has at risk (its own and the developers') in fighting the appeals in respect of the other 3 supermarket application?

Asking these very obvious questions seems to me to be the least due diligence that Cornwall Council should undertake  when risking taxpayers' money.