Cornwall Council (), known until 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the unitary authority which governs the district of Cornwall, which covers the majority of the ceremonial county of the same name in the South West of England. The council has had a Conservative Party majority since the 2021 local elections. Its headquarters is Lys Kernow in Truro.
The area covered by the council is rural, and includes almost all of the ceremonial county; the Isles of Scilly are governed by a unique unitary authority. Cornwall was a two-tier non-metropolitan county from 1974 until 2009, when its six districts were abolished and the county council took over their functions. The council has a tradition of large groups of independent councillors, and was controlled by independents in the 1970s and 1980s.
Cornwall Council provides a wide range of services to the 570,000 people who live in Cornwall. In 2014 it had an annual budget of more than £1 billion and was the biggest employer in the county, with a staff of 12,429 salaried workers. It is responsible for services including: schools, social services, rubbish collection, roads, planning and more.
History
Cornwall County Council was formed on 1 April 1889. From 1974 the county had six districts: Caradon, Carrick, Kerrier, North Cornwall, Penwith, and Restormel (a borough). The Council had its headquarters at Old County Hall in Station Road, Truro until it moved to Lys Kernow at Treyew Road, also in Truro, in 1966. On 5 December 2007 the Government confirmed that Cornwall County Council was one of five which would become unitary authorities. This was enacted by statutory instrument as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, and the changes took effect on 1 April 2009. On that date the six districts were abolished and their functions taken over by the county council, which was renamed 'Cornwall Council'.
Devolution
The campaign for Cornish devolution began in 2000 with the founding of the Cornish Constitutional Convention, a cross-party, cross-sector association that campaigns for devolution to Cornwall. In 2009 the Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson introduced a bill in parliament seeking to take power from Whitehall and regional quangos and pass it to Cornwall Council, with the intention of making the council an assembly similar to the National Assembly for Wales. In November 2010 the Prime Minister, David Cameron, suggested in comments to the local press that his government would "devolve a lot of power to Cornwall – that will go to the Cornish unitary authority." In 2011, the then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he would meet a cross party group, including the six Cornish MPs, to look at whether more powers could be devolved to Cornwall. The subsequent Localism Act 2011 was expected to achieve this but it proved incapable.
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 is intended to devolve some powers to Cornwall Council, helping to bring social and care services together, and giving control over bus services and local investment. In July 2015, a Cornwall Devolution Deal was agreed with the Government for devolution to Cornwall from London, which gives Cornwall greater powers over public sector funding. Cornwall was the first authority to agree a devolution deal with the Government. This was agreed following the submission of the successful 'Case for Cornwall'.
Cultural services
Among the services provided by the council is a public library service which consists of a main library in Truro and smaller libraries in towns and some villages throughout Cornwall. There are also the following special libraries: Cornwall Learning Library, Cornish Studies Library, the Education Library Service, and the Performing Arts Library, as well as a mobile library service based at Threemilestone.
Cultural projects
Cornwall Council is promoting ten cultural projects as part of a five-year culture strategy. One project is the development of a National Theatre of Cornwall, a collaboration of the Hall for Cornwall, Kneehigh Theatre, Eden Project and Wildworks. Cornwall Council has based its idea on the successful National Theatres of Scotland and Wales.
Another of the projects is the proposed creation of a National Library of Cornwall to resolve inadequacies with the current storage of archives. It is hoped that this will bring some important documents concerning Cornish history back to Cornwall as well as providing better public access to those records already held. Cornwall Council is also involved in the project to build a Stadium for Cornwall.