Huge thanks to the emergency services who were very busy working all through the night during the recent storms, and I really do thank them as the conditions were terrible.

If flood water remains and big pipes look blocked, then the Cornwall Council ‘report it’ site is very efficient. Sometimes heavy machinery is needed to do major clearing work in which case this gets added to the list of jobs and I will always push these forward with the Cormac team if you keep me informed.

I recently did an environmental visit with the housing officers at some of my estates. I was very upset to see significant debris and rubbish left outside some houses and I have arranged with the officers for a skip to clear those areas. This is an important issue since quite apart from the visual impact leaving rubbish around encourages rats and drains also become blocked which creates flooding.

I have also asked for some community mornings to be held to work with those tenants to encourage them to litter pick and keep the area tidy. We all know that everyone feels happier and safer when an area is free of litter. The HWRC (household waste) at Lanivet now works on an online booking system and you can also phone to book a slot. This has improved the queuing and overcrowding at the site, making it safer and reducing highway problems.

On that note I really must thank the Bodmin Tidy it Team for all their wonderful work. I join them when I can and last time was delighted to see 17 volunteers which is amazing. They also clear and maintain community areas around the town and the making space for nature areas. What would we do without them?

As a member of the Health and Social Care Task and Finish group we had a meeting with four of our MPs, Jayne Kirkham (who came in person) Andrew George, Noah Law and Anna Gelderd to lobby for more funding for Adult Social Care.

We are substantially underfunded per resident in comparison to the rest of the country which puts enormous pressure on our Council finances, and they fully understand this problem. We also discussed the Devolution situation and with varying degrees of enthusiasm and optimism from the MPs we are clear that they will continue to support keeping our borders and keeping our Cornish identity.

The problem being that with the level two deal and no mayor we will effectively be starved of funds at a time when our statutory duties are increasing. I have no illusions that the future will be very difficult as we fight for our fair share of funding.

We have a huge task to find a solution for our housing crisis, we must work together with our officers to find a way through without destroying our green spaces and countryside and overburdening our already creaking services. A huge task and in the meantime, I do all I can to ensure we have great place to live.