A Record of Action….A Promise of More!

• Liberal Democrats initiated the successful campaign for £793 million Objective One and £712 million Convergence funding for Cornwall – supporting projects from the University for Cornwall and Eden, making broadband more widely available in Cornwall, plus business investment and training programmes.
• In addition to Objective One, since 2005 Liberal Democrats in Cornwall have secured £85.5 million pounds of funding for projects to improve infrastructure and make Cornwall a better place to do business. 3157 Cornish businesses have benefited from training and intensive personal visits from Business Link so far since December 2007.
• The Liberal Democrats at County Hall stepped in with £28 million to keep open and modernise Newquay Airport when the Government decided to close it. 40% of users are business passengers.
• We have secured funding for £29 million rail improvements across Cornwall, and £111 million in road improvements, since 2005.
• We have secured EU Convergence funding to provide universal high speed broadband to every property in Cornwall, by 2013.
• We pay 95% of all undisputed invoices within 30 days – far above the national average of 50%.
• Creating a single Council for Cornwall is saving over £70 million over the next four years in reduced bureaucracy and over 200 fewer Councillors – savings which we will use to improve services for everyone and cut Council Tax in real terms.

The Lib Dem Guarantee

• We will deliver in partnership with the RDA through Convergence funding universal high speed affordable broadband to every household and business in Cornwall by 2013, and very high speed to business parks.
  
• We will invest £7 million in supporting local business through the Cornwall Development Company, and will support local buying and producers by sourcing local produce wherever possible and encouraging others to do the same.
  
• We will apply a more responsive and speedy approach to planning to allow small businesses to grow appropriately and support people who want to work from home.
  
• We will campaign for the Cornwall Development Company to gain responsibility for EU and other economic development support to cut out the regional and national bureaucracy holding up approvals.
  
• We will campaign nationally for a new small business rate relief scheme to be available to all businesses with a rateable value under £25,000 – saving over £600 a year for the majority of small businesses.
  
  
  Compare the difference!