Council survey has 'only '0.1% of residents' reply

Politicians have questioned whether the way Cornwall Council engages with residents is "broken" after an estimate that 0.1% of people responded to a consultation on local priorities.

A total of 909 people out of a population of about 600,000 responded to the consultation, which ran from 14 November 2025 to 18 January.

Labour councillor Kate Ewert said: "I worked it out as about 0.1% of the population of Cornwall have even engaged in this."

A council officer said more than 900 people taking the time to give their opinion was a "good result" and the consultation was given "lots of promotion".

Ewert said she was concerned by the public response, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"How low do we go before we say, actually, the people of Cornwall are so disinterested or do not agree with it," she said.

Green councillor Drew Creek said: "Just to flip the number on its head – 99.85% of residents didn't respond to this survey, which has been described as a 'satisfactory sample'. I'm not sure I'd agree.

"It seems ridiculous to me that in a population of 600,000 we've got less than 1,000 respondents."

The priorities consultation asked questions on a variety of subjects, including what people's views were on communities, the local economy, health, transport and the environment.

A separate consultation is under way into the council's budget plans and priorities.

The authority council has proposed a budget increase from £842m in 2025/26 to £958m in 2028/29, and a council tax rise of 4.9% annually over the next three years. It has also proposed savings of about £50m in 2026/27 – rising to £133m over three years.

A recent scrutiny meeting was told there was a £13m shortfall this year due to changes in local government funding.

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.