WORK to resurface Land's End airport and to refurbish the terminal buildings at St Mary's has once again been put on hold.

The Council of the Isles of Scilly and the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company have said they are awaiting evaluation reports from the European Commission before public funds can be released.

It is hoped that the work on the runway at Land's End will solve the problem of flights being cancelled because of waterlogging at the St Just airfield and travellers having to fly from Newquay.

Last winter, the airport was closed for 56 days and this winter, it has not been open since the start of the year – currently it is closed until Saturday when another inspection is due to take place.

Originally, after consultations last summer, it was hoped that the £1.8 million project to upgrade and resurface the runway at Land's End would take place in December.

But in January, after costs had risen, it was announced that the work had been put back to next month, with March 10 to 24 earmarked for the two-week slot when the work would take place.

However, as the project is funded through a combination of private and public funding, State Aid legislation requires specific approval before the public money can be legally spent.

A spokesman for the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company said: "Until we know the European Commission's decision we can't say when the works will be undertaken but they will be timed to minimise disruption and avoid peak travel periods.

"We are not planning to close the airport for runway works for two weeks in March as originally planned because we are still awaiting the funding decision.

"Given the forecast of more rain in the coming days we have informed passengers that we will continue to operate via Newquay Cornwall airport until Saturday and are reviewing the situation daily."

A FACEBOOK page and petition have been launched to persuade councillors to reject an application to fell 70 trees and level an area of green space to create plots for 16 homes in St Ives.

Last week The Cornishman reported on plans submitted to Cornwall Council to create building plots on the Treloyhan Manor site – historic home of Sir Edward Hain – to fund a refurbishment and extension at the hotel.

This week a Facebook page aimed at alerting people in St Ives to the plans was launched by local artist and amateur naturalist Rachael Levine.

Rachael has also launched an online petition called Stop the planning application of Treloyhan, which by Tuesday of this week had 129 signatures.

The land proposed for development is owned by the company that runs the 100-guest Treloyhan Manor Hotel, Christian Guild Holidays.

They want to develop the land – part of 11 acres of grounds – to pay for a renovation that will add seven new rooms and five self-catering units, and create 15 new jobs.

But some local residents fear that work to clear the plots for building will have a negative impact on a beautiful piece of woodland that stretches from Trelyon Avenue down to the sea.

The hotel, built in 1892 as a home for St Ives' shipping magnate Sir Edward Hain, sits on a drive off the main gateway to St Ives, opposite the Tregenna Castle Hotel.

By Tuesday there were ten letters lodged with planning authority Cornwall Council, two of them neutral and eight objecting.

Harmful

In one, objector Melanie Martin wrote: "I feel Edward Hain, St Ives' first MP, may be turning in his grave, because 68 trees are identified for removal, to make way for houses and roads, all these trees other than the sycamores are regarded as safeguarded species.

"The loss of all these mature species will have a devastating harmful effect on the area and is in direct contravention of policy and this proposal should be refused."

Christine Noton wrote: "Once again an open space will be lost to this area. I understand that Treloyhan Manor needs to be financially viable but does it have to be on such a huge scale? The grounds and trees are beautiful and an oasis in this built-up area."

Concerns have also been raised about mine workings under the site.

The former Wheal Margery mine runs diagonally across the land and then out to sea and subsidence has occurred in the past, according to locals.

But the developers have had a mining survey carried out and their report has been included in documents submitted to Cornwall Council.

Details of the planning application can be found on Cornwall Council's online planning portal. The application number is PA14/00811.

The petition can be found on the online petition website www.avaaz.org

A SACKED car dealership worker fraudulently used his former employer's account to buy hundreds of pounds' worth of tools to sell on.

At Truro Magistrates' Court, Dene Tregidgo, 22, of Esperanza Court, Falmouth, pleaded guilty to fraud by making a false representation with a trade account to obtain tools worth £452.99 on October 18 at Truro.

Alison May, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Tregidgo had been sacked from his job at Scorrier Vehicle Sales and then obtained the tools by putting them on the company's trade account. He had a number of previous convictions.

Dieter Kehler, his solicitor, said he had poor thinking skills. He had felt his previous company treated him unfairly but did not know about employment tribunals and thought the way out was to obtain items on its account to make up for what he believed was owed. District Judge David Parsons told Tregidgo he had been in court many times for offences of dishonesty and on each occasion dealt with by community penalties which had obviously failed.

His record and his breach of trust counted against him.

Tregidgo was given a ten-week prison sentence suspended for a year, a 12-month supervision order, with a requirement for a thinking skills programme, and told to pay compensation of £200.

Tregidgo is due to be sentenced at Truro Crown Court next month after pleading guilty last week at Truro Magistrates' Court to the burglary at Boslowick Post Office in the early hours of Tuesday.

As reported, he was found after taking the £20,000 cash from the safe by Falmouth police under a new regime of patrols of commercial premises in the area.

A DRINK-DRIVER who was going the wrong way down a one-way street in St Columb Major punched another motorist after insisting that he must reverse.

Fisherman Michael Haugh, 50, was given a suspended prison sentence when he appeared before Bodmin magistrates for sentencing on Thursday.

The court was told that at a police station, where he gave a breath sample almost three times over the limit, he could barely stand.

Haugh, of Rosenannon, Bodmin, who has a previous drink-driving conviction, was banned from driving for four years and ordered to pay £200 compensation to the motorist, Malcolm Vivian.

He had pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, assaulting Mr Vivian by beating and using a vehicle without a test certificate.

Graham Calderwood, for the prosecution, said that on the night of December 19 Mr Vivian was driving a Mazda along Fore Street in St Columb Major when he met a Mitsubishi coming towards him the wrong way in the one-way system.

Its driver, Haugh, insisted Mr Vivian should reverse and then drove slowly towards the Mazda. His car came into contact with it, although no damage was caused.

Haugh then got out and again told Mr Vivian to reverse before reversing himself and then driving forward to nudge Mr Vivian's car for a second time.

Becoming aggressive, Haugh got out and approached Mr Vivian yet again, telling him he would "do him over". Mr Vivian then reversed to let Haugh pass before pulling over to check his car for damage.

Angry and swearing, Haugh came across and without warning punched Mr Vivian twice on the chin and on the back of the head.

Mr Vivian flagged down a passing police car to report the incident, which had been witnessed by a PCSO.

Haugh provided a breath sample at the police station which showed he had 99 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the limit being 35mcg.

Interviewed by police, he said he had drunk a substantial amount in a pub in Padstow after work and was trying to turn in the street.

He remembered being annoyed but could not remember throwing punches.

The court was told Haugh had previous convictions, including one for an offence of drink-driving in 2006 and more recently one for battery, in 2011.

Dawn Hallett, for the defence, said Haugh would usually have slept on his boat after going out drinking but "for some reason" decided to drive that night.

He was unable to remember large parts of what had happened but took responsibility for it at an early stage.

Haugh had had a drink problem since the age of 17 and had tried many times to get help, said Ms Hallett. He had substantially reduced his drinking since the incident.

After considering a probation officer's report, in which it was stated that Haugh would be unsuitable for a community penalty due to the time he spent away at sea, the magistrates imposed a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge, as well as the compensation, and warned he would now be classed as a high-risk offender and must satisfy DVLA of his fitness to drive before his licence would be returned.

A PREGNANT woman was butted twice by her partner at an address in Par.

Matthew Bradfield, aged 38, of Elizabeth Road, St Austell, attacked Gemma Saunders during "a lost weekend" of drinking, Bodmin magistrates were told by his solicitor, David Harvey.

Bradfield pleaded guilty to assaulting Ms Saunders by beating when he appeared in custody before the court on Thursday. A warrant had been issued for his arrest after he turned up for court drunk the day before and left before his case was called.

Graham Calderwood, for the prosecution, said that on February 9 police were called to Mount Crescent, Par, by Ms Saunders who explained that Bradfield had assaulted her the previous day and was on his way back to her home.

Ms Saunders, who is 12 weeks pregnant with Bradfield's child, said that on February 8 he had come to her home drunk and butted her first on the forehead and then on the nose.

Interviewed by police, Bradfield said he couldn't recall the incident because of the amount he had drunk.

The court heard that he had previous convictions for violence and drink-related offending.

Mr Harvey said Bradfield's main problem was the amount he drank, and he was full of remorse for what had happened.

The case was adjourned until March 19 for the preparation of a probation officer's report and an assessment for an alcohol treatment requirement. Bradfield was bailed on condition he does not go to Mount Crescent.

CORNWALL Council has come under fire for "wasting taxpayers' money" after it revealed more than £22,000 of public money was spent on studies looking at the impact the £110 million retail development at Coyte Farm would have on trade in St Austell.

In August 2012, the council commissioned property consultants GVA to complete a retail impact assessment to gauge what impact the proposed retail park and supermarket in St Mewan would have on existing shops in the town.

Although the assessment was completed in May 2013, the local authority chose not to make the findings public until October 2013, the Cornish Guardian has learnt.

In the meantime, it commissioned Chase and Partners, a different consultancy firm, to carry out a second assessment – costing the council an additional £10,725, excluding VAT.

During the debate on the Coyte Farm planning application, at the council's strategic planning committee in January, some councillors said the retail impact assessments were worthless, as they provided conflicting evidence and they were unsure which to trust.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, criticised the council for the additional spend on the studies.

"Councillors can't pick and choose which assessments they like, and don't like, when taxpayers are footing the bill each time," he said.

"A healthy dose of transparency is urgently needed in this case."

Following a freedom of information request, the council revealed it spent £11,600, excluding VAT, on the original GVA assessment and an amended version of the report, which took into account planning decisions made after the first was completed. Both reports concluded the development at Coyte Farm would result in a diversion of trade from shops in the town centre of around 28 per cent.

Matt Morris, director of GVA, said the council had been using his consultancy firm since it became a unitary authority in 2009 and, to his knowledge, it had never previously sought a secondary assessment from an alternative firm after commissioning GVA.

The council defended its decision to withhold the original GVA report from the public.

"The retail impact study concerning the Coyte Farm planning application was undertaken by GVA for the council and was completed in May 2013," a council spokesman said.

"However, the report was not released pending the outcome of Chase and Partners' work.

"The reason for this was that the council did not want to drip feed information relating to this application into the public domain, but rather it wanted to present all of the work undertaken in relation to the retail impact of the proposed development to provide as full a picture as possible."

The council said the second report was commissioned to assist the authority in understanding the scale of the disparities between the applicant's retail impact assessment and the report undertaken by the council's consultant.

The spokesman added: "The council considered that this expense was justified as the application was significant and it wanted to ensure that councillors had sufficient information to reach a view on the potential retail impact from the proposed development."

HUGE waves washed away part of the road between two North Cornwall villages on Monday night.

Residents in Port Gaverne have been cut off from driving to nearby Port Isaac because of the landslip.

The waves destroyed a retaining wall and undermined part of the road between the two villages.

The road is expected to be closed for a considerable time.

The police and Cornwall Council Highways staff were called to the scene on Monday night, and put up road blocks to close off the road to motorists.

Richard Cook lives in a house next to where the road gave way. He said: "It all happened between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on Monday when the retaining wall gave way.

"I'm letting people use my drive because it's the only way through for pedestrians.

"With the road closed, it means that if anyone wants to get to the Co-op, a quarter of a mile up the road, they now have to travel about six miles via Pendoggett to reach it.

"People from Highways came out on Monday night to take a look at the damage and went away again, but when the road can be repaired is anyone's guess," said Mr Cook.

Police said the road had been closed as a matter of public safety.

"People won't be allowed to use it and will have to find alternatives between Port Isaac and Port Gaverne," said PC Malcolm Taylor.

ST AUSTELL mayor Steve Double went back to school to meet the candidates for St Austell Town Council's Youth Council.

Mr Double visited Poltair School on Wednesday where he was impressed by the four candidates who have stepped forward to represent their school on the youth council.

He said: "What we are trying to achieve is to give young people in St Austell a voice and influence some of the decisions that are being made."

The youth council will have representatives from Cornwall College and Penrice Community College.

A WEBSITE has been launched in St Blazey that could put planning power back "in the hands of local residents".

It is hoped the website, www.stblaisenp.co.uk will give the community the opportunity to influence their town.

The site has been launched as part of a government-funded Neighbourhood Planning Programme.

St Blazey, which is already working on its St Blaise Neighbourhood Plan, has been chosen as one of the scheme's trailblazers.

The Neighbourhood Planning Programme enables residents, through the town council, to produce a plan, which provides a blueprint of what the community wants from future development in the area.

Roy Taylor, Cornwall councillor for the area said: "A successful neighbourhood plan will put the decision-making planning power back where it belongs – in the hands of local residents."

The website has been funded by St Blaise Town Council. Questionnaires will be regularly posted on the site.

All the results from the questionnaires will be published on the site. The details will be used to establish what the community wants and incorporated into the Neighbourhood Plan.

A FIRE at a house in Lostwithiel is suspected of being started deliberately.

Firefighters from Lostwithiel, Fowey and Bodmin were called to the property in Castle View at around 9.45pm on Sunday night.

The fire was on the ground floor of the house, which was unoccupied at the time.

A joint investigation by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and Devon and Cornwall Police was carried out on Monday.

Initial findings were that a sofa had been set alight.

TWO wind turbines erected in Golant, which sparked anger in the village, face an uncertain future after the High Court overruled an appeal decision to allow them to be built at South Torfrey Farm.

Cornwall Council had refused planning consent for the 21m-high structures, but applicants Simon and Debbie Andrews were allowed to erect them after a government planning inspector ruled in their favour.

Now the High Court has quashed the decision of the inspector after a successful challenge by neighbour Richard Cooper. The turbines are sited within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a mile from the Iron Age fort at Castle Dore.

Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, did not contest Mr Cooper's court challenge.

The High Court ruled that planning inspector Anthony Thickett was wrong to insist that the visual harm caused by the turbines to the grade one listed St Sampson's Church and the grade two listed farmhouse owned by Mr Cooper would be "less than substantial'' and he failed to give sufficient weight to the adverse effect the turbines would have on the buildings.

The wind turbines have been erected within the past two weeks to power electricity for the Andrews' farm and holiday lets. Their appeal will now be heard again by the Planning Inspectorate.

The installation of the turbines has caused anger in the village, and a parish council meeting last night was due to discuss what can be done about the situation.

Simon Andrews admitted few people in Golant supported the turbines, but felt renewable energy was the key to making the family business more viable. "We are an organic farm and simply wanted to make our business more sustainable by following government policy on renewable energy.

"Obviously we are disappointed with the decision of the High Court, and we now have to wait for our planning appeal to be heard again,'' said Mr Andrews.

Resident Richard Strode, a former parish councillor, said: "There is a lot of anger in the village that these turbines have been erected despite the High Court's decision. If Cornwall Council decides to do nothing, then it will simply give others the incentive to place turbines wherever they like without recourse.''

Cornwall Council said yesterday its hands were tied until another planning appeal takes place.

RUNNERS Phil Midgley, from Wadebridge, and Bodmin's Lee Hoskin have been training in style for the Brighton Marathon.

The pair are raising money for Breast Cancer Care and as part of their fitness regime, and to drum up sponsorship, they were outside the Tesco store in Wadebridge running 44 miles on a treadmill.

Lee Hoskin, who is head gardener at the Glynn Valley Crematorium, and is no stranger to raising money, said he will run the marathon on April 6 in a tutu if enough money is raised.

"Both Phil and I have to raise at least £500 each to take part in the race, and if people will sponsor me with that amount, I will promise to do the marathon in a pink tutu,'' he said.

Mr Midgley thanked those who had already donated money.

"The local support has been fantastic and a real boost through the cold wet winter months."

People wishing to support the pair can donate at www.justgiving.com/Phil-Midgley-Brighton or www.just giving.com/Lee-Hoskin4

AN APPLICATION to erect a 130ft wind turbine near Launceston has been refused by councillors.

Champion sheep breeder Gwen Renfree, who lives at Quethiock, wanted to put a single 39.6m-high (131ft) 75kW turbine in a moorland field at Tregrenna, Altarnun.

However, local residents and English Heritage lodged objections due to its impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and an insufficient heritage assessment.

Cornwall Council's east sub-area planning committee, meeting at Liskeard on Monday, voted 12 to 1 to refuse the application.

Wind and renewable energy consultant Tristan Mackie, speaking for Mrs Renfree, asked for a deferment. He said the application was being made to support the government policy of renewable energy generation and to sustain the income of the farm.

However, Professor Philip Woller, of the Camel Valley and Bodmin Moor Protection Society, spoke against the application, while Altarnun parish councillor Katherine Richards said it had no merits. She said the parish council was in favour of renewable energy but not on this site.

THE BODY of a St Austell man may have lain undiscovered in his home for almost a month, an inquest has heard.

Colin Keith Williams, aged 57, was found dead at his St Austell home on April 9 last year, having been last seen on March 14.

And now the agencies involved in his care will be contacted by Coroner for Cornwall, Dr Emma Carlyon, in an attempt to prevent future deaths.

Mr Williams, an alcoholic who lived alone at Tregonissey Close, had been an alcoholic for more than two decades.

In a statement read during the proceedings at Truro Coroner's Court on Wednesday, Colin's sister Lynn said her brother moved into the flat owned by Ocean Housing in St Austell in 2007 and his life seemed to go from "bad to worse".

Lynn said her brother's alcoholism had caused a number of medical conditions including cellulitis and he had been told by the hospital both his feet might require amputation.

He had stopped showering, eating, and would drink a bottle of spirits a day. Sometimes he would not answer the door and had boarded up windows.

Bottles of mostly unopened prescribed medication were found around his house.

Despite a vulnerable adult referral being made it had been deemed Mr Williams could make decisions about how he lived.

Mr Williams was assigned a social worker, received visits from a private domiciliary agency to help keep his house clean, as well as being visited by the adult social care early intervention team.

But after he discharged himself from hospital on February 25 he twice refused help from the service and on March 14 his case was closed to the team.

Neil Powell, Mr Williams' case co-ordinator for the early intervention team, said: "He refused all help from our service."

His sister said: "He seemed to get lost in the system. We knew he could be difficult but it was like no one could be bothered. Colin was a vulnerable adult within the community and they had a statutory duty to look after him," she said.

"All he needed was some professional help and I believe if he had received it he would still be alive today."

She last saw her brother on March 14 and spoke to him on the phone three days later.

Lynn called on her brother on the three Thursdays which followed but when he didn't answer the door, she did not think at the time anything untoward had happened.

His sister said the family was devastated when they discovered Mr Williams had died and distressed to think his body may have lain there for some time.

William Dean, who lived in the same block of flats, found Mr Williams after they noticed an unusual smell over a few weeks.

When he arrived at the entrance the smell became stronger. When he went inside he discovered the badly- decomposed body of Mr Williams in the kitchen.

A pathologist was unable to ascertain the cause of Mr Williams' death, adding it was likely he had been dead for weeks rather than days, when found.

Dr Carlyon, recording an open verdict, offered her condolences to the family, which included Mr Williams' daughter Maggie, who was present at the inquest.

Dr Carlyon will be writing to the agencies involved in Mr Williams' care, with regards to how teams can work more closely to provide support for clients with multiple need and who have chronic alcoholism.