Kernow/Cornwall: Mixed Views on New Unitary Authority

A meeting of the cabinet of the new Cornwall unitary authority was held last week which discussed its future Cornish language policy and support for Cornish culture.

Among the issues members of the cabinet was set to discuss at the meeting was whether to make the authority fully bilingual and how best to `promote and protect indigenous Cornish culture'.

The new unitary council replaced Cornwall County Council as Cornwall's government earlier this year and, according to one long standing independent councillor who spoke unofficially to the League recently, it is the most Cornish council he has ever known. However many people criticised the move to a unitary authority, because it scrapped the district level of local government and with it a level of democracy that many people saw as invaluable for making decisions at a ground roots level. Critics, including Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall, also say that the unitary authority is a step away from a Cornish Assembly.

The reason why the new Cornwall council must now debate its Cornish language policy is because the six district councils in Cornwall were previously responsible for implementing their own policies, which included road signage. Two of the six district councils (Kerrier and Carrick) had a bilingual policy for road signs and it will be recommended at today's meeting that the new unitary council adopts a similar policy. If agreed by the cabinet this could potentially mean that over a period of time all road signs in Cornwall will be fully bilingual.

Another recommendation to be pursued at the meeting was that members should:

«endorse the planned approach to redirect Cultural Services resources to support capacity building with partnerships and organisations that are responsible for, and have a commitment to, protecting and promoting indigenous Cornish Culture.»

This could lead to, a cultural improvement plan and a new Cultural Strategy for Cornwall will have to be developed, potentially deepening and strengthening the Cornish cultural landscape.

Once agreed, the new Cornish language policy and cultural commitment is planned to take affect later on this month.

Link to agenda:

(voir le site) YjVkMTBkYzcwNWM4&hl=en

(This article compiled for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)