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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is welcomed on visit to Penzance
THE first visit to the far west of Cornwall in more than a century by the country's foremost Anglican clergyman saw Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby enjoy a varied itinerary in Penzance.
Part of a three-day stay in the county, the Archbishop spent Saturday morning in Penzance, visiting Penwith College, the Giving Shop in the Wharfside shopping centre, St Mary's Church and the Penlee lifeboat station, as well as paying prayer visits to homes around St John's Church.
First stop was Penwith College where the Archbishop mingled with students from the college and pupils from local schools, including Humphry Davy and St Mary's Church of England, while enjoying a buffet breakfast in the college's Zennor building, which enjoys spectacular views over Mount's Bay.
The Archbishop then faced a thought-provoking question-and-answer session from the students – on the Church's plans to set up a credit union. The Archbishop raised a laugh when he said he would not be sending out large vicars with dark glasses to collect bad debts while, when asked if religion was important in society, he said it was "irreplaceable and essential".
Other questioners wonders how an omnipotent and benevolent God could allow natural disasters such as the typhoon in the Philippines and what the worst and best parts of his job were; he replied that paperwork was his least favourite, and confessed he could not understand why a fuss was made about him as an Archbishop: "It embarrasses me, but it does mean I get to meet so many amazing people."
The Archbishop also told the students that they were in a "fantastic college – it's a marvellous and motivating place".
A visit to the Giving Shop followed, where he was shown round by David Smith from Churches Together and manager Annette Costello.
Mr Smith said: "The Archbishop was so personable and so easy to talk to; he's certainly not one for airs and graces.
"He said he was amazed with the work going on on behalf of Churches Together in the Giving Shop and the support it's able to give to the community in a variety of ways."
After visiting homes in Penzance distributing cards for those who wished to be included in books of remembrance, the Archbishop preached on the theme of "Hope in darkness" at a service at St Mary's Church.
The service included performances by Mousehole Male Voice Choir and a choir from Humphry Davy School.
Finally he visited the Penlee lifeboat station where he and other senior church figures on were taken by coxswain Patch Harvey on board the all-weather craft Ivan Ellen and out to the spot where the lifeboat Solomon Browne was lost in 1981. "He said a few words at the site and then drove the lifeboat back to Newlyn," said Mr Harvey. "He was very down-to-earth and seemed to absolutely love it down here."
Reflecting on his visit to the county, the Archbishop said he felt Cornwall was a good example for the rest of the Anglican Church to follow.
"It's very distinctive and I wanted to come here early to learn about what Bishop Tim (the Right Reverend Tim Thornton, Bishop of Truro) is doing here," he said.
"It's very different. There is an extraordinary history of spirituality here which is nothing like the rest of the south of England."
Public gathers at St Ives Guildhall to say no to 'new village' at Gonwin Farm
MORE than 120 objectors packed into St Ives Guildhall to hear town councillors unanimously reject a proposal for what could amount to a whole new village being built between Carbis Bay and Lelant.
St Ives Council's planning committee met to hear the application for outline permission for the 235-home development at Gonwin Farm.
The meeting was relocated to the Guildhall from the council chamber to accommodate the large turnout.
After presentations from Cornwall Council planners and the Carbis Bay Residents' Action Group, each councillor outlined their objections.
St Ives Mayor Colin Nicholls said: "All of the councillors from the planning committee were there and everybody had something to say about it. St Ives Town Council unanimously rejected it."
Action group chairman Des Hosking said: "The town council planning committee unanimously agreed to support our request for refusal of the application, and that Cornwall Council should refuse the application.
"If a decision is not made within the 13-week timescale then it could be called in by the Secretary of State and we do not want this to happen."
The St Ives and Carbis Bay Urban Extension proposal – branded but one as a "blot on the landscape" – would see 235 homes built on farmland.
The plans include shops and industrial units, a restaurant, pub and café, and a sports field.
Gonwin Farm is currently home to a number of high-end holiday lets surrounded by green fields overlooking St Ives Bay. It sits not far off Longstone Hill, the busy main road into St Ives from the east and Lelant – the main route for holidaymakers, making it a prime spot for development.
Local names linked to the plan include Michael Wodskou, of Gonwin Manor, and David Ellsmore, of Porthia Limited.
Proposers Gonwin Developments and west Cornwall-based RLT Architects stress they have conducted a public consultation and made efforts to address local concerns.
Objections range from concerns about adding to an already-busy Longstone Hill – the proposal includes a new roundabout – to worries about the lack of schools and GPs.
Wider concerns involve the loss of such a large area of land and the loss of what many in Lelant see as the green buffer between that village and Carbis Bay and St Ives.
Dr Richard Machell, who lives near the site, said: "This is the largest application for housing ever in the St Ives area and there has been so little consultation between the planning department and the developers and our community."
Camborne couple Richard and Tania Bennetts accused of attacking groom-to-be on stag night
A CAMBORNE husband and wife have been accused of attacking a groom-to-be on his cowboy-themed stag night.
David Morford was out in Camborne with 12 to 15 friends who were all dressed in cowboy hats and checkered shirts.
Richard, 29, and Tania Bennetts, 42, went on trial on Monday at Truro Crown Court accused of head-butting and glassing him.
Iain White, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said on August 11 last year the group went first to the White Hart pub before moving on to Wetherspoon's, where Mr Morford, then aged 26, recognised the defendant.
Mr White said: "That person was a man he recalled who had caused an unwanted disturbance coincidentally on his brother's stag night some two or three years previously."
The friends moved on to the Tyacks Hotel where, after getting a drink Mr Morford, went to the toilets.
Mr White said Mr Bennetts came in shortly afterwards and started asking Mr Morford if he was someone else.
Mr White told the jury: "As David Morford turns to walk away Richard Bennetts head-butts him on the right-hand side of his face."
The court heard that in the ensuing scuffle, Mr Morford was escorted from the toilets by a member of the venue's bar staff and while he was being restrained, he was set upon by Mrs Bennetts.
"She swore at David Morford, who is in front of her, and then thrusts a half-pint glass directly into his face," said Mr White. "He was in fact utterly defenceless."
The glass shattered on impact and Mr Morford was taken to hospital with cuts to his mouth and forehead. Mr White said Mr Bennetts then punched Mr Morford's brother, Christopher, outside the venue, breaking his nose.
The Bennetts, of North Roskear Meadow, deny the charges.
When interviewed by police, Mr Bennetts, who is accused of assaulting David Morford and causing him actual bodily harm, admitted that he had been involved in an incident but said he had been the one struck on the way out of the toilets.
He also said he could not rule out having punched Christopher Morford, who he is accused of causing actual bodily harm, but said it would have been in self-defence.
Mrs Bennetts, who is charged with wounding Mr Morford with intent to do him grievous bodily harm or alternatively unlawfully wounding him, told police that hitting Mr Morford in the face had been an accident as a result of her being shoved and punched and stumbling.
The trial continues.
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Badger cull must continue, says NFU
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Review of South West Water bills hinted at by Minister
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has indicated hard-pressed households will see the end of spiralling water bills next year as he came under fire for doing little to help.
Many families in Devon and Cornwall pay more than £1,000 a year as South West Water has the highest charges in the country, despite a £50 per household government subsidy.
The Secretary of State this month wrote to water companies urging them to keep bills in check amid the growing political row of the rising cost of living.
In Environment Questions in the Commons yesterday, Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary Maria Eagle said families want "action from the Secretary of State, not a weak letter".
But Mr Paterson said privatisation of the water industry depends on having a "rigorous and robust" regulator, and hailed the tough approach of watchdog Ofwat's new chairman Jonson Cox.
He argued this was lacking under Labour, who oversaw bills rising by 20% to £389 in the last five years of Government. He said: "When the new price review comes through, I think (Labour) will be pleasantly surprised to see that prices will be held and that some may fall."
Ms Eagle said the Government should make all water companies sign up to an affordability scheme in a bid to cut bills.
She challenged Mr Paterson to add the new rules into the Water Bill, when it comes back to the Commons next week.
But the Environment Secretary insisted the reform would amount to a "universal tax".
South West Water's average charge is still £499 – £111 above the national average – a result of botched industry privatisation in the 1980s .
The Exeter-based firm will shortly decide how much it intends to increase its range of charges from April next year.
Gary Streeter, Tory MP for South West Devon, said in the Commons: "The people of the Westcountry have been suffering the pain caused by their water bills for many years.
"Given that the wholesale price of water is not rising, in that it falls from the sky and is free, is (Mr Paterson) convinced that the regulator is robust enough to ensure that rises will be kept to a minimum?"
Cornwall customers face fuel bill rises of £30 million with predicted big freeze on the way
Owen Paterson expresses 'confidence' in badger cull
There is "great confidence" that Somerset's controversial badger cull will eradicate bovine tuberculosis from the area, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has said.
The Government has faced criticism for marksmen failing to shoot the required 70% of the badgers in the "pilot" cull area, even following a three-week extension.
But ministers have argued the killing was safe and humane, and that the 65% rate achieved is a good basis for three more years of culling.
Now Mr Paterson has indicated farmers in the area could be "rid" of bovine tuberculosis (TB), which is causing misery for agriculture across the region.
The Secretary of State told MPs yesterday: "I was in Somerset last week talking to those conducting the cull, and they were doing so with great professionalism, skill and restraint, in the face of some opposition, and they were delighted with the results, were convinced there had been a significant reduction in the number of diseased badgers and were looking with great confidence to that part of Somerset being rid of the disease."
Mr Paterson also reminded MPs that badgers can move around – weeks after suggesting the animals had "moved the goalposts" and made a cull more difficult to implement.
The minister made the remark when challenged by Labour's Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) as to why badgers were being killed on farms which did not have cattle.
Mr Paterson said: "You must understand badgers move around. When they are super excretors and they move on to cattle farms, sadly they are very effective transmitters of this disease. That is why we are addressing this disease not just in cattle but also in the wildlife."
Ms McCarthy had asked: "Recent figures from Natural England show only 60% of the farms in the West Somerset cull zone contained cattle and only 43% of the farms in West Gloucestershire.
"Why is the Government culling badgers on farms without cattle?"
The disease, said to be spread by badgers and cattle, led to the slaughter of 28,000 animals last year – more than 20,000 in the South West – at a cost of £100 million to the taxpayer.
The two "pilot" culls – in Somerset and Gloucestershire – will determine the prospects of expanding to up to 40 culls from next year.
A roll-out could mean culling in neighbouring Devon and even into Cornwall – both considered bovine TB hotspots.
Mr Paterson also hit out at Labour for opposing the cull after he was accused of being a "complete stranger to evidence-based policy, but a master of moving the goalposts".
"I wish we could go back to the bipartisan approach of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, when we got this disease beaten," he said, adding: "We got it down to 0.01%."