Top council officer proposes tourist tax and second home premium

There is a training session doing the rounds within Cornwall Council called 'The Officers run the Council'. The point of the session being to try to show that it is in fact members who make the key strategic, spending and policy decisions and the officers merely implement their wishes.

Every so often something happens to make you seriously doubt this. One such instance is the decision by Environment and Economy Director Tom Flanagan to propose a tourist tax and council tax premium for second homes to MPs yesterday.

In his evidence to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Mr Flanagan said:

"We are considering holding a referendum to remove (the second home council tax discount) or even add a surcharge onto second homes to create a funding stream for investment."

He went on to say:

"Cornwall has a population of 500,000 but in summer that expands to 5 million which places great pressure on infrastructure and it is unfair to ask the Cornwall council taxpayer to fund the burden completely of providing that infrastructure. Cornwall has 26 million visitor nights per year. If you put £1 per head per bed that could raise £26 million which could go into investment. These are funding opportunities for Cornwall if we are given the freedom."

Both of these are ideas worthy of debate. But that's not the point. The point is that it is Cornwall's 123 councillors who should be deciding this, not an officer. I cannot recall either the cabinet or full council being asked to consider either proposal.

But in truth, Mr Flanagan is not really to blame. There is absolutely no statement of purpose or ideology from the ruling Cabinet and so it is left to officers to make proposals such as this and spark a debate.

When the coalition between the Tories and Indies was formed in June 2009, we asked repeatedly for their joint 'manifesto'. What were they aiming to do and how could the people of Cornwall judge their success or failure? What we got, eventually, was the Council's officer-produced Business Plan. We still have no real idea what the cabinet is for (or even what they are against). The only way we can judge them is by their individual decisions.

And so, with a leadership vacuum, it is no surprise that officers feel they have to raise the key issues themselves and inspire a debate. Personally, I think that doing so in front of a House of Commons Select Committee might not have been the best choice, but I understand his frustration.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has hit the nail on the head when he said that councillors should not let officers be backseat drivers. In Cornwall's case, it is the absence of leadership from the Cabinet that means that officers really do run the council.

UPDATE - The Council has now had to put out a statement to say that councillors have not been involved in discussions about the tourist tax or second home premium and that these are not council policy.

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