Cornwall
Main towns: The main towns in Cornwall are Bodmin, Bude, Camborne, Camelford, Falmouth,Fowey, Hayle, Helston, Launceston, Liskeard, Looe, Lostwithiel, Newquay, Padstow, Penryn, Penzance, Redruth, Saltash, Torpoint, Truro and Wadebridge.
Demographics: Many young people leave the county for education and employment whilst many older people retire to live in the region. This means that the county has a high proportion of elderly people compared to other regions.
Cornwall’s ethnic profile is extremely different from the national trend. The area has an exceptionally low black and minority ethnic population, with 97% of people identifying themselves as being ‘White British’. Of the remaining 3%, 1.49% identified themselves as non-British or Irish White. A Quality of Life survey conducted in 2004 showed that 35% of the population identify themselves as ‘Cornish’.
The majority political group in Cornwall is Liberal Democrat, with 48 councillors. The second most popular group is the Independents, who have 19 candidates, followed by the Conservatives with nine and labour with five.
The country has a predominance of employment in low paying sectors such as agriculture and tourism.
Population: The static population of Cornwall is approximately 520,000. However, during the busiest holiday periods the county’s population rises to over 750,000. Only 32% of the county’s population live in towns with over 10,000 inhabitants. This is in stark contrast with the national figure, which stands at around of 80%. Only nine Cornish towns have a population of over 10,000 people. Seven of these towns are in the centre or West of the county. The North and East areas of Cornwall, which border with Devon, are some of the most sparsely populated in the UK. 20% of the population live in towns or villages with less than 1,000 residents. Another 20% live in small settlements with between 1,000 and 2,000 residents.
Places of Interest: Cornwall has 697kilometres of coastline, the longest stretch of coastline in the UK. The county boasts over 300 beaches and website VisitCornwall.com claims that in Cornwall one is never more than 16miles form the sea. Just offshore in the small region of Marazion is Saint Michael’s Mount, an island housing a medieval castle. At low tide, visitors can walk along the causeway to the island.
In addition to its beaches, Cornwall is a rural county with lots of countryside to explore.
Cornwall houses many places of historic interests including two prehistoric settlements (The Hurlers in Minions and Men-An-Tol in Morvah) and Rumps Cliff Castle in Polzeath, an Iron Age fortification.
For younger residents and visitors, Flambards theme park, located in Helston, offers a fun-filled day out
House/Flat Prices: The average property price in Cornwall today is £270,000. The average price 5 years ago, in February 2004, was £175,000. The gross domestic product of Cornwall is less than 65% of the national average. In contrast, house prices are close to the national average. This means there may be a mismatch between house prices and earnings.
Planning issues: Councillors have agreed that a number of new committees will deal with planning applications as of April 1. Planning applications will be dealt with by three new Sub-Area Planning Committees.
In recent weeks West Cornwall MP Andrew George has called upon the Government to further protect towns and villages from losing their gardens, alleging that his constituency’s Conservative Association is trying to obtain planning permission for development in its back garden.