Housing

Finding the right home is one of the main issues that constituents come to ask my help on and I think there are three key things we need to do.

Firstly, we need to build additional homes, especially for young families who need more room and for older people looking to downsize. If we build more one bedroom apartments then we also free up larger homes for families. I have always argued that we should build on brownfield sites before greenfield sites and projects like the old Assembly Rooms at Trevu Road next to Camborne train station are the model to follow.

Secondly, we need to be flexible about the way we allocate social housing.  When people's circumstances change and perhaps they are earning more money or their children have flown the nest, we need to encourage them to move up the housing ladder and make way for young families in need of a larger home.  

Finally, we need to help those who aspire to own their own home. Schemes like Help to Buy have been successful helping hundreds of local families by underwriting their mortgage so that they can get a 95 percent mortgage and buy their first home. I want to see more of this help.

Better Opportunities

Since being elected in 2010, my main priority has been economic regeneration and I have put my weight behind several major projects like the Cornwall Archive Centre, the restoration of Hayle Harbour and the new link road to unlock derelict land at Tuckingmill. My priority now is to attract new industries and better paid jobs. 

Progress has been made. Unemployment has almost halved.  The new Innovation Centres at Pool and Tremough have seen many new companies setting up in Redruth with a new generation of computer software and digital companies choosing Camborne and Redruth as the location to set up in business.  We have also attracted new engineering firms like Large Diameter Drilling in Tolvaddon and Severn SubSea.  

There is still concern about low levels of pay in Cornwall and that is why we must focus on developing skills so young people can take advantage of the new opportunities being created.  There are also concerns about zero hours contracts although it is important to recognise they only apply to around 2 percent of all jobs.  However, the Government has acted to ban exclusivity clauses in these, ensuring those on zero hour contracts have the freedom to pursue other opportunities. 

Stadium for Cornwall

The decision last week by Cornwall Council planners to defer a decision on a supermarket and housing development has been a blow to hopes for a Stadium for Cornwall but we need to revise the approach and try to get the concept back on track.

I have always been passionate about the role sport can play in both bringing communities together and creating and providing an interest for young people.  Athletics was my passion and I ran for the Cornwall cross country team for many years and my family help sponsor Camborne Rugby Club today.

The support the idea of Stadium for Cornwall but from the start the project has been vulnerable because, to be financially viable, it depended on being part of a wider property deal with a supermarket and loads of housing needed to help raise cash.  The only reason Truro was suggested as a location was because they thought they could get higher property prices.

Truro is famous for lots of things like accountants and solicitors, but not for sport.  It's not the right place for a major sporting venue.  The traffic is horrendous.  I think we should revise plans for the stadium in a number of ways.  First, build it where the population is, where there is a sporting tradition and where we have good road networks.  That means Camborne or Redruth and Camborne is already home to the best rugby ground in Cornwall.  Secondly, it would be better to have something a little smaller that was viable in its own right rather than have a giant project always in financial trouble.  Finally, I think it would be better to broaden the project so it wasn't just a stadium where people watched, but was also a sporting centre where young people had access to great facilities to develop their talents in a range of sports.

Public Spending

Everyone knows that if we want to increase spending on public services we have to have a strong economy. The last Labour Government bankrupted this country and left every family with huge debts and over the last few years, the Conservative led Government has taken the difficult decisions to get our finances back in order.

However, we have still prioritized hospitals and schools. Spending on the NHS has increased

in this parliament by £12.7 billion and this additional funding has helped Cornwall and includes an expansion of the minor injuries unit at the Camborne and Redruth Community Hospital and the creation of a doctor-led urgent care centre. In addition, by cutting bureaucracy in the NHS, we have also been able to recruit 500 new doctors in the South West. 

Local schools have also seen additional funding with an increased pupil premium, giving schools in areas where there is poverty, extra funds to employ the best teachers to give children the best start in life and many of our schools have benefited from converting to academies where they have had more funding and, full control over how they spend it so that head teachers can be captains of

their own ship.

Police Funding

We all know that we can only afford to increase funding for our public services and our police force if we get our economy back on its feet. The last Labour government almost bankrupted the country, saddling every family in Britain with huge debts. That has meant some difficult decision have had to be taken and the police have had to manage with a slightly smaller budget like everyone else.

However, what matters is how much they achieve with the funding they have. I regularly visit our police force in Camborne and Redruth and I am always really impressed by their professionalism.  We have seen big improvements in efficiency in the last few years and the Government has scrapped pointless paperwork.  The focus on neighbourhood policing and working with communities has been particularly successful.

Police and Crime Commissioners have been criticised by some but they only replaced the old defunct Police Authorities who very few people had even heard of.  It is far better to have someone who people can hold to account at the ballot box and while there are still issues with alcohol linked violence, crime has fallen overall.

Britain and the EU

The issue of Britain's relationship with the EU was what first drove me into politics. I stood as a UKIP candidate in 1999 and was then Campaign Director of the successful anti-Euro “No Campaign”. 

The EU has accumulated too many powers which undermines the ability of national governments to take the decisive action needed to sort out problems. That's why we need a radical shake up of our relationship with Europe. Three years ago I founded the Fresh Start Project which explored the options for a new UK-EU relationship. I also contributed ideas to David Cameron’s landmark speech where he called for a return of powers to nation states and committed to an in-out referendum if the Conservatives win the next election.  We will only get that referendum if we have a Conservative government.  

This government has taken steps to control immigration after a decade where Labour had an open door policy. We have closed hundreds of sham colleges which were being used as a route into the UK, tightened the criteria for marriage visas and, if re-elected, we will do more to curtail the payment of benefits to EU migrants.  People should come here to work, not to claim benefits.  

Foodbanks

Food Banks do excellent work helping those who have hit difficult times and I fully support the efforts of people like Don Gardner and others from local churches in our community who have come together to offer support in this way.  

As Minister for Food, I have visited the operation in Camborne on several occasions and looked at this issue closely. The Government is doing its part by offering free school meals to all infants to ensure children are eating properly and there are other schemes like Healthy Start that make food available for young families.  

The best way to help people out of poverty is to help them back into work. That's why we have reformed the benefits system so that work pays. Since 2010, 1.7 million more people are now in work and in Camborne and Redruth, the number of unemployed people has almost halved since 2010, but there is more to do in terms of creating better paid jobs.

We also need to help those suffering the demoralising consequences of personal debt and I recently held a conference to address this issue and look at alternative ways to help people navigate a way out of indebtedness.   

Developing Green Energy

I have always been a strong supporter of wave power in Cornwall, but I am very opposed to field scale solar farms which are scarring the Cornish countryside.

With the powerful Atlantic swell off the Cornish coast we have a wave power resource that is second to none and Wave Hub is the first facility of its type in the world able to test commercial scale arrays of devices.

I have always championed wave power and worked to secure Marine Energy Park status in Hayle. There are several major wave energy developers now seeking to locate in Hayle and our strong heritage in engineering means we have the companies that can really make wave power work.

There is a place for solar panels on roofs, but field scale solar developments damage the countryside and take good farmland out of production. What has happened with all those new solar developments between Chiverton roundabout and Carland Cross is an absolute tragedy and will damage other industries like farming and tourism. As Farming Minister, I decided to abolish farm subsidies on any land occupied by solar developments and I have pressed for Cornwall Council to say no to more of these awful developments.

NHS in Cornwall

The NHS is incredibly important to everyone in Cornwall and recently there have been rumours regarding the future of St Michael’s Hospital. Earlier in the summer, I met with the then Chief Executive of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, to discuss these rumours and ask if there was anything I could do to help. She made clear there are no plans whatsoever to close the hospital and that they would actually like to do more work there. I strongly disagree with those people who keep saying St Michael's will have to be closed down.  We should not undermine confidence in our local NHS. Instead we should support and strengthen it.

Funding for the Kernow Clinical Commission Group had increased this year by £14.3 million with another £11.6 million to come next year. Furthermore, I think it is encouraging that extra funds have been granted for an expansion at the minor injuries unit at the Camborne and Redruth Community Hospital and the creation of doctor led urgent care centres at the same hospital. Like any big organisation, the NHS will always have challenges to deal with and I think we should help them deal with those challenges, not talk them down.

Cornish Devolution

Cornwall has always been unique.  We have a strong identity and our own language and culture. Many of us consider ourselves Cornish before English and in recent years we have seen a renewed interest in celebrating St Piran’s Day. 

I do believe that we should give more decision making powers to Cornwall and the Government has already put together "growth deals" where new money has been made available for Cornwall to spend on transport projects that it has prioritised to promote growth.

I don't think we should build a Welsh style assembly and have yet another tier of politicians. That would just be a waste of money. Instead, we should focus on what more Cornwall Council can do. I would like to see more powers relating to culture and heritage devolved to Cornwall Council and taken away from English Heritage which I think can sometimes be remote.

But Cornwall Council is far from perfect so in addition, I think we should give our town and parish councils a greater say on how elements of Cornwall Council’s budget is spent so they have more power and a stronger sense of purpose

Election Year Looms

This is the last of my weekly columns for the West Briton and Cornishman. As we enter the New Year we are in the final four months leading up to the next General Election in May and a new format is planned to involve all of the various candidates from different parties.

I know that many people frown upon political parties and I don't doubt that most people will have had enough of the debate come May 7th. But political parties should not be undervalued because no democracy can work without them. They are all voluntary organisations funded by donations from supporters to enable them to print the leaflets and literature which are then delivered by local volunteers who give up their free time to help the party they believe in.

This is going to be the most important election for decades. So much is at stake. Do we stick with the plan to turn the economy around and deliver prosperity or do we abandon all the progress that has been made and make Ed Miliband Prime Minister instead? It is a big choice and if the polls are to be believed, it is going to be the closest election in living memory. The two main parties are neck and neck and other smaller parties are also attracting more support than usual. Camborne, Redruth and Hayle has always been closely fought and a key battleground in elections. Unless the Conservatives can hold seats like Camborne and Redruth then Ed Miliband will become Prime Minister next May.  

Elections are increasingly about local issues too. I am fortunate enough to be an MP representing the towns where I grew up and where my family have worked for over four hundred years.  My family have lived through the changing fortunes of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle for generations and that is why I have always made bringing new industries and better paid jobs to the area my number one priority. I hate the way some people talk our towns down.  We have an industrial heritage to be proud of and which hasn’t been forgotten and this is still the part of Cornwall where the work gets done.  A good start has been made with the restoration of Hayle Harbour, millions invested in Camborne and plans for a new archive centre at the derelict brewery site in Redruth but there is still more to do. If voters give me the chance next May, I want to build on what we've started.

EU Fishing Negotiations

As I write this article I am about to start day two of intense negotiations in Brussels over next year’s fishing quotas in my role as Fisheries Minister. There has been concern from Newlyn and other parts of the West Country fleet this year because some of the science on the state of certain fish stocks has been challenging and the European Commission’s original proposals contained some significant cuts. I have been working hard with my negotiating team to get the right outcome and by the time you read this, the final deal will have been done.


If we want a future for our fishing industry then we need to fish sustainably. If we hammer vulnerable stocks today then there will be no fish and no fishermen tomorrow. It is not always easy for people to think about the long term when they are considering fishing opportunities for next year but we must. Some have urged me to forget the scientific advice and just argue against all cuts in quota but I will not ditch the science.  


However, we must ensure we are using the most up to date scientific evidence and also take account of the realities of the marine environment to ensure we do not end up with unintended consequences. That is why I have brought new scientific evidence to the table which demonstrates cod stocks in around Cornwall have recovered since the last evidence was published. 


It is also why our scientists are carrying out what we term "mixed fishery analysis" to model the interactions between different fish species. There is no point having a dramatic cut in the quota for haddock if it is in a mixed fishery with cod and cannot be avoided. Otherwise all that happens is that perfectly good haddock ends up being discarded dead back into the sea because fishermen have no quota for them. That is an appalling waste.


Finally, I have been arguing we should make the most informed judgement we can even where there are gaps in the evidence. The two most important fish species landed in Newlyn are monkfish and megrim. Both are what are termed "data limited stocks" which means there are gaps in the scientific evidence. In the past the Commission has argued for a precautionary approach with automatic cuts to quotas. However, I think we should use the evidence we have of the improving trends in the health of some of these stocks and have been pressing the case for lower reductions than those proposed.


The marine environment is incredibly complex and no man made system to manage it will ever be perfect. From 2016 we will implement the new CFP with a discard ban and new flexibilities to make fisheries management more sensible. It won't be perfect but it does represent a major step forward.

St Michael's Hospital

Last week I met the Friends of St Michael's Hospital to discuss their plans for the future. There have been rumours circulating for some months now that the hospital is going to be closed which has been unsettling and unfair to the dedicated staff working there.  As the Cornishman reported last week, this has spilled over into concern among local residents.

When the rumours first surfaced this summer I met with Lezli Boswell, the then Chief Executive of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust which runs St Michael’s, to discuss these rumours and ask if there was anything I could do to help.  She made clear there are no plans whatsoever to close the hospital and that they would actually like to do more work there.

I have also had discussions with the Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group which is the body that commissions local NHS services.  They explained that when deciding how to configure NHS services, one of their criteria is to make things more local and encourage joint working within the NHS. I think that's important for Cornwall because we are on a peninsula and have always had a culture of working together. The NHS is no different.

An election is just a few months away and the political atmosphere is charged, but I strongly disagree with those people who keep saying St Michael's will have to be closed down.  We should not undermine confidence in our local NHS.  Instead we should support and strengthen it. According to the Friends of St Michael’s, the hospital delivers over 95 percent of all breast cancer operations in Cornwall, about 1200 operations a year which is an extraordinary feat.  St Michael's is the only hospital in Cornwall where there is the capacity to do this work and it's the reason why it should have confidence in its future.

The Friends team are also looking at the area of orthopaedic surgery which is the other key area covered by St Michael's.  They tell me all three orthopaedic operating theatres are working fully during the five day working week and are aiming to secure additional operations.

Some people have said St Michael's will need to close because there are often empty beds but this is a very old fashioned way to measure performance in the NHS.  As the Friends explained to me, modern surgery means patients are kept in hospital for far shorter periods and that some of the procedures at St Michael’s now require a two-night stay rather than six-day stay. In fact some operations have now become day cases.

Like any big organisation, the NHS will always have challenges to deal with but I think we should help them deal with those challenges, not talk them down.

Autumn Statement

This week George Osborne delivered his last Autumn Statement before the General Election and promised a big boost in funding for both the NHS and transport infrastructure across the South West. Cornwall in particular will benefit from these changes and while the Autumn Statement can be thought of as a mini budget, what is clear is that we could not afford these new investments if we hadn't taken the difficult decisions a few years ago to get the country's economy back on its feet.

The first bit of good news for Cornwall is the announcement the Government has promised to invest £180 million to upgrade the A30 over the next five years. Because we are on a peninsula at the far west of the country, good roads are vital to our economy. The single stretch of carriageway at Temple is a notorious bottleneck and I am really pleased at the news that work to dual this section of the A30 will begin as early as March 2015.

The Government has also announced plans to begin drawing up proposals to improve the A30 between Carland and Chiverton Cross, with the aim to have it opened to traffic by 2020. This is a big step forward in developing our local transport infrastructure as many constituents have contacted me over the years expressing their concerns about how congested the road can become over the summer and I know the announced work will make a huge difference to the area.

Alongside transport spending, the Government has also protected the NHS. Over the life of this parliament, the NHS budget has been increased by £12.5 billion and the Chancellor has just announced a further £2 billion in healthcare funding for frontline NHS services every year. The news will be especially welcome as we go in to winter, a time of year when the NHS comes under maximum pressure.

Across the South West there are now 500 more doctors looking after patients than there were five years ago. In Cornwall, funding for the Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group, which commissions health services in Camborne and Redruth, has increased by more than £14.3 million this year alone with an additional £11.6 million again next year. There are also plans to increase provision at the Camborne and Redruth Community Hospital at Barncoose to include a minor injuries unit and a doctor led urgent care centre.

We have some exceptionally dedicated people working in our NHS. However, as medical science advances and people live longer, the pressures on the health service and the cost of providing it increase accordingly. Those working in the NHS still have their work cut out, so it is good to see this additional money to support the great work they do.

Heartlands

When it was opened a couple of years ago the Heartlands project at Pool symbolised the start of regeneration in the Camborne Redruth area. Like all new projects it has suffered from its share of teething problems but I think there are now some positive signs that it's turned the corner and we need the community to get behind it.

A couple of weeks ago over 14,000 people attended their bonfire night celebration which must have been the biggest bonfire party in Cornwall. Earlier this autumn the first ‘Live at Heartlands’ concert was held which attracted leading bands such as UB40, The Happy Mondays, The Boom Town Rats and many others. It was a really successful festival and several people have told me how much they enjoyed it.

The new housing development on the edge of Heartlands is also almost complete. It is designed to respect the industrial heritage of the site with saw tooth roofs and will bring a larger community to the site. Later this year another part of the site will become home to a ground breaking new project run by Carillion Igloo homes which will pioneer a new national scheme to sell plots with outlining planning and an option for people to custom build their dream home.

I think one of the problems Heartlands encountered early on was that some of the decisions made were driven by the criteria required to secure successful grant applications rather than focusing solely on what would work. There had also been legal hiccups in the way lawyers had set up the deeds which caused huge problems when trying to sell the first phase of flats to local residents. It was unbelievable that lawyers were unable to resolve what should have been quite simple land deals. There were also too many prescriptions and conditions attached to the occupants of the business and retail units which made it hard for some of them to survive. Finally, there has been too much reliance on the car park as an income stream.

However, the amazing play area has been a big draw from the start and the Red River feature has always been a hit with young children and families. The diaspora gardens are also starting to establish. What the bonfire night party and Live at Heartlands proved is that this project can become a great community asset which celebrates our industrial heritage but is very much for the local community. It has huge potential and I believe we will see Heartlands grow from strength to strength.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

REMEMBRANCE

This year Remembrance services across the country carried particular significance marking both the centenary of the start of the First World War and also coming weeks after the last British troops finally withdrew from Camp Bastion and the mission in Afghanistan ended.

I attended services in Hayle and Illogan and there was a strong turnout at each. As usual the various Cadet groups, Scouts, Brownies and other youth groups were out in force. It is great to see these movements going from strength to strength and the young people representing them this year did us all proud. Two pupils from Hayle school read out the names of all those who died in the two world wars which really drove home the scale of the loss.

Last Friday, as part of the Cornwall Remember commemorations, I read a poem at Truro Cathedral which was written by Siegfried Sassoon. He was one of a number of famous poets who brought home the horrors of the Great War. It was the first industrial war and battleground tactics had not evolved to deal with advances of military technology. There were attempts to break the battleground deadlock and early attempts to develop the use of armoured tanks and aircraft but none of these were entirely successful so the horrors continued. It is right that we remember a generation of young men who carried such an extraordinary burden.

The recent wars that we have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have undoubtedly increased attendance at remembrance services in recent years. The operation in Afghanistan has been long and hard lasting thirteen years, more than three times as long as the Great War and there have been many casualties and soldiers suffering life changing injuries. It is a relief that the mission is finally over.

In 2006 when I was an adviser to David Cameron, I visited our troops at Camp Bastion and Kandahar in Afghanistan. I was struck by the incredible professionalism and can-do attitude of our armed forces. The troops were casually running sweep stakes on where in the camp the next Taliban missile might land and a "rapid response force", made up of young men often not even in their twenties, was permanently on call to scramble out into the dessert to pursue the Taliban after each missile was fired. They didn't want to make it easy for them. It was a reminder that the reputation this country has as having the best armed forces in the world is very well deserved.

We have had more than a decade of engagement in very difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the problems of the Middle East seem as intractable as ever. When I visited Afghanistan, there was a real respect and gratitude for what Britain's forces were doing to try to help them and we should remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and the families they left behind.

NHS Pledge

Early last month David Cameron made an important pledge that by 2020 a Conservative government would deliver access to a family doctor seven days a week, and that surgeries would be open for twelve hours each day to relieve pressure on our hospitals. I think this is really good news and will especially help those who cannot get out of work on a week day to go and see their GP. The details need to be worked out and lessons learnt from a recent trial but it is clearly a project that holds huge potential.

The announcement builds on what is already being done by the Government to protect funding for the NHS and make sure that despite difficult economic circumstances it remains free at the point of need. Whilst difficult spending cuts have had to be made in other areas over the course of this Parliament not only has spending been protected for the NHS it has also been increased by £12.7 billion.

This is a huge increase that has allowed the hiring of thousands more doctors, nurses and midwives to look after patients and has also been helped by reforms to cut the numbers of managers and bureaucracy we saw under the last government. There have also been other successful initiatives, like the £1.16 billion Cancer Drugs Fund now administered by the NHS helping over fifty thousand cancer patients since it was set up four years ago.

There has also been some important extra money that has been awarded for new NHS services in Cornwall. In our area this is being spent on a much needed expansion to include a minor injuries unit at the Camborne and Redruth Community Hospital and the creation of doctor-led urgent care centres at the same hospital.

Of course more needs to be done and we especially need to make sure we help those who work tirelessly in our hospitals and surgeries. I recently raised the issue of new staff parking charges at Treliske Hospital with the Chief Executive following changes that are seeing some staff with an increase of almost 300% in what they are paying to park at work. Discussions are still ongoing but we need to find a sensible solution.

There has also been a lot of speculation over the future of St Michael’s Hospital in Hayle with rumours of its imminent closure. St Michael’s is a much valued and popular hospital and when I discussed these concerns with the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust it was clear they plan to invest more into it and make it better still, not close it. We should not allow rumours to undermine morale at such a community institution and instead we should support plans to improve the services they offer.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032

TRANSPORT LINKS IMPROVEMENT

The beginning of this week saw a crucial deal struck by the Government that will maintain an air link between Newquay and London Gatwick for the next four years. The Department for Transport signed what is known as a Public Service Obligation, or PSO, to subsidise the important weekday and weekend flights to and from Cornwall and Flybe will operate the flights with timings convenient to those wanting to travel for a full working day at either destination.

I think the deal is really important and part of a wider package of transport measures announced this year that makes sure Cornwall is better connected to London but also other regions of the UK. The air link alone contributes a huge amount to the Cornish economy, with Cornwall Council estimating £54.5 million contributed to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly through it. It serves as a lifeline for businessmen and women who use the service regularly and I was happy to help Cornwall Council press the case for it to be retained. Recently the Government announced a doubling of the money available to projects like this through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund which is a real boost for the regions.

The news has come not long after David Cameron’s recent announcement of a range of measures to improve Cornwall’s rail links which I and others had pressed for in Westminster. There are three main elements: a new train care centre in Penzance which will create much needed local jobs, a sleeper upgrade to help business users and holiday makers and the bringing forward of plans to upgrade and improve our outdated signalling system so that we can run more frequent local services.

I am often contacted by local residents regarding the speed of the train and whilst we have to accept the realities of living so far away the improvements to our signalling system will go a long way in tackling this problem. Not only will it allow a half hourly service from Penzance to Plymouth, but it will also allow a much faster service further up the line with increased reliability. The improvements will also create better capacity and tie in with plans for more modern diesel trains and rolling stock.

Finally, there has been progress on our road infrastructure. The majority of people living in Cornwall still have to rely on their car to get around. There are important plans to dual the A30 in the pipeline. The government has made funding available for the section at Temple and I know Cornwall Council are working hard to progress this. The Transport Minister also recently announced that there would be a feasibility study to progress the duelling of the section at Carland Cross.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032

END TO FARMING SUBSIDY FOR SOLAR

I have always said we need to be careful about losing good agricultural land to solar farms and earlier this week, as Farming Minister, I announced our plan to end the payment of farm subsidies on land occupied by solar farms. The new rules, which will come into force from January next year, mean that farmers who choose to use fields for solar panels will not be eligible for any of their "single farm payment" available through the Common Agricultural Policy on that particular piece of land.

I think this is good news for the country but particularly for Cornwall, where we have been especially blighted by these ugly solar developments. Last year alone, 67% of new solar developments could be found in the West Country and Cornwall planners have been inundated with applications from developers hoping to take advantage of energy subsidies. During my time as MP I have been contacted numerous times by residents opposed to these developments and I have supported their cases all the way to the Planning Inspectorate.

In the next few decades food security is going to become an increasingly important issue with a growing world population and demand for food growing. Farming is what our farms are for and it is what keeps our landscape beautiful but crucially it produces the food we need. It makes my heart sink to see row upon row of solar panels here in Cornwall where once there were fields of crops or grassland for livestock to graze.

Some developers have attempted to claim that farming can continue underneath solar panels but I think these are sham arguments which developers just advance to try to get around planning guidance. There is no doubt that land covered in solar panels is, for all intents and purposes, lost to agriculture. Crops need sunlight to grow and if fields are smothered in solar panels, there is no light left for crop production and it is not possible to get tractor access to manage the soil. In addition, when it comes to the idea of grazing sheep or other livestock, while developers talk this up, in reality they are concerned that livestock will damage their expensive panels. Many write into their agreements that farmers can't use the land themselves but that only the energy company's sheep can occupy the land. I don't know whether they think they have specially trained solar friendly sheep or something but none of it sounds very plausible.
We do need to diversify our energy supply and there could be a role for some solar panels, but on roofs not on prime agricultural land. Solar panels are best placed on the 250,000 hectares of south facing commercial rooftops where they will not compromise the success of our agricultural industry and I hope that a more innovative approach along those lines could remove the threat to our Cornish landscape.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

CORNWALL'S FISHING INDUSTRY

Cornwall's fishing industry has always played an important part in our local economy and it has been great to have the opportunity as fisheries minister to try to secure a better and more secure future for our industry.

Earlier this week I attended the October EU fisheries Council which marked the start of a series of important negotiations culminating in the setting of annual quotas for fish stocks in December. The Common Fisheries Policy has long been regarded as synonymous with EU failure but last year we made an important breakthrough with a radical transformation in approach. Significant powers over fisheries management are to be returned to the national governments who have a shared interest in each individual fishery and there is a new discard ban to end the shameful practice of throwing perfectly good fish dead back into the water.

The UK led the way in securing the radical reform. The problem with the old CFP is that there were centralised quotas set by the EU for each species. But fish don't swim neatly apart from one another so fishermen targeting one fish could inadvertently catch another species for which they had no quota and the only option open to them at that point was to dump the fish back into the water.

Under the new system, the management plans for an individual water are developed multilaterally between the nations who have a shared interest in the water. There is a legally binding commitment to fish sustainably and to follow the scientific advice about the health of fish stocks. This is important for the future of the industry because if we hammer fish stocks that are in decline or over exploit our fish recourses we are only robbing fishermen of their future. Sometimes we do need to hold back and show restraint in order to safeguard the future of the industry.

Another feature of the reform is that there will be a ban on discarding healthy fish back into the sea. Instead, we will help Fishermen manage the realities of the marine environment allowing flexibilities between the quotas they have. So if a fisherman catches more haddock than he expected then rather than having to throw it overboard he can count it against quotas he has for other species like whiting or cod so that he can land the fish he has caught. He will also be able to borrow some quota from the following year if needed and there will be an uplift in the amount that he can catch to take account of the fact that fish are no longer being discarded.

The marine environment is incredibly complex and no man made system to manage it is ever going to be perfect. There are also still issues we need to resolve in terms of how we implement the new system. However, the new agreement on fisheries represents a major leap forward from what has gone before.