Option A support so much “smoke & mirrors”
7/3/10The supporters of Option A are claiming that a petition and Facebook page are evidence that a majority of Penzance residents and businesses now support Option A.
When the Cornishman ran a poll just a few weeks ago 70% of those that voted said they wanted an alternative to Option A. All polling over the previous 18 months has been consistent with this. Just a few days ago the public packed the largest venue in Penzance for a meeting to support alternatives to Option A; the claimed “silent majority” in support of Option A again failed to materialise. And last Monday the Town Council again voted against Option A by a margin of three to one.
Option A supporters make their claim in a letter to members of the Strategic Planning Committee, which meets this coming Monday to consider the controversial plans to build on Battery Rocks beach. The basis for the claim needs addressing in detail:
Petition
People have been encouraged to “save the Scilly Link” and “keep the Scillonian in Penzance” and there is endless anecdotal evidence that people have signed the petition without knowing that they were supporting Option A. The name chosen by supporters of Option A – “The True Friends of Penzance” – has also led supporters of the Friends of Penzance Harbour to mistakenly sign. The Cornishman has a campaign running with the same “Save Our Sea Link” objective but without preferring one option over another and it seems likely that this has added to the confusion.
Also of concern is that it is not one petition but (at least) two with the organisers having changed the petition text as it suits them. This of course invalidates any attempt to consolidate the figures into a single total. Importantly both versions that we are aware of are misleading in that they suggest there is no option other than Option A, and the first version tells people that the link will otherwise go to Falmouth. Both the current operator and the Council’s own consultants have ruled Falmouth out.
The potential for using misinformation to acquire signatures is of course one of the reasons why planners (normally) treat petitions, no matter how many signatures they contain, as the equivalent of a single letter of objection/support.
The claim that 3500 have joined a Facebook page in favour of Option A is highly misleading. The organisers of the page, entitled “A Future for Penzance” (not “Support Option A”), have invited debate and to participate one has to join the page and become a “fan”. Most Friends of Penzance Harbour are “fans” of this site and part of the 3500! To the extent that it is a measure of anything at all the 3500 “fans” is only an indicator of interest in the issue locally and not people’s views one way or the other. The number of active contributors to the site is also very small with the bulk of the 3500 only taking a passing interest in the subject; this is typical of the generally ephemeral nature of many Facebook audiences.
Letters of objection/support
At the time of writing the final numbers for letters of objection and support are not available but as of February 25th there were c. 100 more letters of objection than letters of support. The supporter tally has been helped by Cornwall Council contractors (Birse Coastal) encouraging people to send in form letters of support. Reports of the form support letters being available at local licensed premises also suggests that many who signed them may not have fully understood what they were supporting!
The majority of the letters of objection have been written by the individuals that signed them. In this respect the Council officer’s report to the planning committee is seriously misleading. We have read through the 600 plus objections to the previous application (which have been carried forward) and they are for the most part heartfelt, well informed and personal objections.
Business support
The supporters of Option A also claim that over 100 local businesses support Option A but when individuals on this list are approached they normally admit to being concerned about the link being lost to Falmouth. They might support Option A if that was the only alternative (which it isn’t) but generally they would, like the majority of the ordinary public, prefer a less destructive alternative that brings genuine benefits to Penzance.
In the end of course the decision regarding Listed Building Consent has to be taken purely on planning grounds; if it were a simple referendum then Option A would have been defeated 18 months ago!