Yesterday I visited the very last Blue Flag beach in Cornwall. This is the privately owned but publicly accessible beach below the Carbis Bay Hotel.
It looked stunning even in slightly blustery weather and even better on a nice day, as per the picture!
This year Cornwall Council decided not to apply for continued Blue Flag status for Gyllyngvase, Porthtowan and Polzeath.
Let us assume that there is a great deal of expense associated with retaining this flag other than the annual fee of £800 and that the Council really cannot afford it. Even so, what is completely unacceptable is the Council's failure to apply for the flag without consulting those affected.
The Seaside Award (which the Council claims will do instead) allows water quality, an absolute key statistic, to be 20 times less good than would be allowed for a Blue Flag beach.
On Wednesday I attended a Cabinet meeting at which the Cabinet voted to retain 19 community committees across Cornwall which are supposed to help 'deliver localism' but many have questioned their effectiveness. It would appear the Council prefers the form to the substance of local decision making.
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