Cornwall Council faces a growing rebellion from a grassroots movement of local councillors angry at what they call “the death of democracy”.
A revolt of 64 town and parish councils has now formed an alliance which demands that the unitary “super council” puts its “house in order”.
The group – Cornwall for Change – accuses the local authority of “incompetent governance” and is set to descend on County Hall in Truro next month demanding answers.
Orlando Kimber, spokesman for the organisation, said the delegation was made up of “serious minded” individuals not a “bunch of people waving banners”.
Mr Kimber, a leading member of the Campaign to Protect Rural England who is standing for The Party for Cornwall (Mebyon Kernow) at the general election, called for a return to “ethical” and “transparent” government.
He singled out planning as a chief concern and blamed “edicts from Westminster and other sources” for “destroying the county”, adding that elected members have “all but lost their democratic right to make decisions”.
“We are not willing to witness the death of democracy in Cornwall,” he added.
“We need to restore the structure of democracy; ensure that policies which affect us locally are fit for our common good and develop a culture of governance that is based on genuine dialogue with ordinary citizens.
“In short we must put our house in order. The first action is to discard everything that is rotten and useless -we cannot make progress until this step is taken.”
Representatives of the rebellious council group, which formed in September, met on Wednesday at Kingsway Hall, Fraddon.
The group was constituted to examine the “many and diverse anecdotal claims of poor administration” by the council.
They claim there have been too many homes and developments approved without without regard to infrastructure or employment capacity.
Much of this has been justified by the inflation of actual levels of housing need by using the waiting list or Homechoice Housing Register figures as a basis, they say.
Councils are unhappy about delegated powers to planning officers, a lack of democratic process in public meeting and a lack of transparency over accounts, including wholly or partially owned companies.
Cornwall for Change is currently amassing a dossier outlining all the complaints and plans to submit the “evidence” soon.
Armorel Carlyon, a former county councillor and mayor of Truro with 40 years continuous service in local government, said the group was not “gunning” for the council but wanted to work together in a “positive” spirit.
She blamed the replacement of the old committee system with the “cabinet and leader” model, which was introduced by Labour’s Local Government Act of 2000 and is common throughout Devon and Cornwall.
“The democratic rights have been eroded by the change from the committee system, under which every member was engaged in a more free way,” she said.
Mrs Carlyon said she was “sad” that some of the officers were “not as sharp” as in the past as the cash-starved authority could no longer afford to hire top quality workers.
“There are things that need to be sorted out and the best way is to work together,” she added.
“The leader John Pollard is an excellent man who tries his best in a difficult set of circumstances but he won’t have heard about all the problems as he has got a thousand things to do – once he has been made aware he can do something about it.”
Andrew Wallis, an independent councillor who now sits in the cabinet, said he had seen it from “both sides”.
“I have had my beefs with the way that the system was run but we do try to engage with as many people as possible – even under the committee system people often didn’t turn up and others moaned that it wasn’t inclusive either,” he added.
“People can spend too long chatting in local government – it is all about making the right decisions for the people of Cornwall.”
Mr Pollard said the group had twice declined an invitation to meet though the offer to discuss their concerns remains open and a date of March had now been fixed.
He added: “We also asked for a list of the parishes who had officially sent representatives but, so far, they have not given us this list.
“Whatever the issues, whatever the cause, whatever the background I am determined to work with all sectors to deliver the best for Cornwall and am sure that the meeting can only be useful.”
