1. More public investment should be poured into the airports in Plymouth, Exeter and Newquay. This will make the region more accessible for business leaders and investors from other parts of the UK and Europe, to travel to and from the South West region to do business.

2. Direct and regular high speed train links( at least twice a day)  from Penzance to Paddingtion Station in London. This will not only strengthen and deepen business links between the South and North, but also more importantly, help the environment by encouraging people to use public transport rather than clog up and pollute the already congested road systems with their cars.

3. Creating a complete ‘unbroken’ dual carriage way from Penzance to Launceston to ensure no region is isolated economically. Environmentally polluting traffic bottlenecks and costly (for business) traffic jams can be avoided too.

4. Controlling the growth of second homes ( which are only occupied a few weeks in a year by their city based owners) . This will enable young local and skilled people (who are critical to the survival and growth of any local economy) to be able to afford a home locally. Failing which, young local people will simply leave the region to work and live in locations where property is more affordable. If the economy needs more nurses, teachers, firemen, therapists, business and policemen, then we need more homes reserved for local first time owners. We may not necessarily need to build more new homes. Instead, we could consider doing something about the thousands of second and derelict homes that are currently unoccupied in Devon and Cornwall.  Second home owners could be made to pay 120% to 150% council tax on their second homes,  which could then be used for local housing for locally based ‘first time’ and ‘economically productive’ (i.e. in full time work) home owners only.   

5. Ensuring public and lottery funds  are allocated more evenly towards knowledge based business start-ups and businesses, who trade all year round, and who generate highly skilled and all year round jobs, rather than seasonal low skilled jobs. We should not over rely on a seasonal tourism based economy, which has little protection from  external social, economic or natural  influences; for example: the loss of inbound visitors to ever cheaper overseas holidays on cut price budget flights, the unpredictable wet weather, and livestock diseases such as the recent ‘foot and mouth’, ‘blue tongue’, and mad cow diseases.  

6. Creating a ‘world class local train and bus transport system’ where buses and trains are more regular, on time, affordable, and have bus and train stops which carry timetable information and have proper and adequate seating and shelter(from the wind & rain for bus stops) for passengers(especially for the elderly where bus stop seats would be nice ). This is important if we want both working adults and the elderly retired, to use public transport to commute into town, rather than use their cars and add to the traffic congestion and pollution.

7. Subsidised public school buses (part funded by parents and part by the local council) to reduce the number of cars on the road in the during the morning and afternoon peak hours. This will allow time starved parents to be more economically productive, rather than waste their time on school runs. This will help the environment(less pollution from fewer cars on the road ) and create less traffic congestion. Such measures will add to valuable cost savings for the local economy, as business and delivery trips will be far shorter due to fewer school runs.

8. Allowing full Sunday and Bank Holiday trading hours, to create more job opportunities and greater productivity for the local economy as businesses still have to pay business rates and rent 365 days a year.

9. A £1 Toll tax on the A30 (similar to the Tamar Bridge toll system) for all cars (except commercial vehicles) that drive into Cornwall during the Summer on the A30. The spike in millions of visitors to Cornwall in the summer, is one reason why Cornwall has one of the highest council tax, water, gas, waste collection and electricity rates in the UK. The tax which should generate millions of pounds for the local economy, can then be reinvested in the local NHS, public transport infrastructure, Police service, and waste collection services. 

10. More publicly funded apprenticeship schemes for young people and retraining schemes for the over 35 unemployed and unskilled age group.

11. More business parks and ‘incubation units’ dedicated to business start-ups. More should be built in key demographic locations such as Truro, Camborne, St Austell, Plymouth and Exeter. Environmentally friendly, energy efficient  low cost ‘quick build’ units could be considered,  so that ‘mini-silicon valleys’ can be incubated and developed. These could be funded by local councils and the Regional Development Authority from revenue earned from local business rates.

12. It should be made mandatory that all business parks and industrial estates have cardboard and paper recycling banks, as businesses tend to generate more recyclable waste (mainly cardboard and paper) than homes.

13. Permanent locations(at subsidised rents by local council) for all weekend, all day weekly farmers markets. This will help promote and support local farmers and food producers, and enable local consumers to rely less on supermarkets which tend to leave a large carbon footprint due to their delivery trucks travelling long miles across the country, polluting the environment while adding to traffic congestion on the roads.

J Ponnampalam
10 January 2007
Founder Media SW Ltd