Cornwall devolution deal survey results delayed

Results will be published a week before an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on 5 April, the council confirmed

Results of a survey asking people in Cornwall for their views on a new devolution deal with a directly-elected Mayor of Cornwall has been delayed.

A 10-week public consultation was launched in December 2022 and results were expected to be released mid-March.

Cornwall Council said the results would now be published a week before a cabinet meeting on 5 April.

Members of the opposition have criticised the delay in releasing the public consultation results.

The Government offered a 'level three' devolution deal for Cornwall, which would provide £360m in additional funding over 30 years.

It would also offer powers over Cornwall's adult education budget, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

The Government said for Cornwall to secure the highest level of devolution, it would have to change its governance and have a mayor directly elected by the public.

'Absolutely no reason'

Perran Moon, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Camborne and Redruth, said the results should have been released to the public once the consultation ended.

He said: "They asked the Cornish people a critically important question about changes to our governance. The results are in.

"There is absolutely no reason why the results of the question about a Mayor for Cornwall should not be released to the public immediately."

Graham Webster from campaign group Let Cornwall Decide said the council "hadn't been clear" why the results had been delayed.

He said: "The chief executive and the leader would have known within minutes of the consultation closing what the results were, the people of Cornwall want to know what that looks like as well and here we are, a month after the consultation closed and we still don't know."

Cornwall Council released a statement saying an extraordinary Cabinet meeting would be held in April to discuss "the progression of Cornwall's devolution deal".

"The item had been due for discussion at next week's Cabinet meeting, but the independent analysis of the public consultation data has not yet been completed, due to the considerable level of responses received during the 10-week consultation," it said.