Penwith, Penwith

The district covers all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which includes an area of land to the east that falls outside the peninsula, being the most westerly district on mainland England. The district is named after one of the ancient administrative hundreds of Cornwall which derives from the two Cornish words, penn meaning 'headland' and wydh meaning 'at the end'. The current district was created on April 1, 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of Penzance and St. Ives boroughs, St Just urban district, and West Penwith Rural District.

Tin and copper has been mined in the area since pre-Roman times and the landscape is dotted with ruined mine buildings. Inland, the peninsula is primarily granite with a thin top soil. This combined with Cornwall's exposed position and the prevailing weather systems from the Atlantic Ocean means that, with the exception of the high moor areas, much of the area is a semi-bare plateau standing around 130 m above sea level. This is most evident on the north coast between St Just and Zennor where the remains of the ancient seabed of the Pliocene era are visible. There are several deep valleys cut into this plateau such as Lamorna, where sufficient shelter from the weather is gained for trees to establish and grow. The shelter of these valleys and the mild climate gives Penwith a flora not seen anywhere else in the UK. Penzance's Morrab Gardens is able to grow bananas. Penwith also contains an artificial lake, Drift Reservoir, which is located appromimately 3 miles west of Penzance. In addition to Penwith's status as a Heritage coastline, west Penwith, an area of 90 square kilometres, is considered an Environmentally Sensitive Area and is part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Traditionally, like much of the rest of Cornwall, Penwith's economy relied heavily on mining and fishing and was badly affected by the decline of these industries. Although the district has tried to stimulate employment through tourism, many of these jobs are by definition seasonal or part-time and do not replace the skilled jobs lost by the closure of the mines.

Cornwall's mild climate and an absence of hard winter frosts mean that these cold-sensitive crops can be produced much earlier than in the rest of the country, and early Cornish new potatoes are a lucrative source of income. Unfortunately this cash crop has come under pressure in recent years due to Globalization, which means competition with cheap imports from Egypt. In 2002 the Farm Business Centre was set up to help farmers and farm businesses across Penwith. The centre aims to expand the local agricultural sector and provide advice and funding for farmers in the transition from intensive farming toward more sustainable agriculture. This encourages farmers to seek out novel sources of income such as set-aside and organic and small scale specialist produce such as meat from rare breed animals. A priority 4.6 grant from Objective One, plus funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs totalling more than 300,000 have ensured the centres future until September 2008.

Charter Trustees being the siting members of Penwith District Council within the former borough area. Penzance Town Council was finally created in 1980 initially electing 15 members, this was expanded to 20 members in 1999. From 1974 to the mid 1980s, Penwith District Council was dominated by independent members, only 4 out of the 34 councillors in 1981 held any political allegiance (a situation reflected in other Cornish Authorities at this time). By the late 1980s, however, the council became increasingly party politicised with the Conservative Party being the major political force on the council often forming coalitions with Conservative supporting independents to ensure the day to day operation of the Council. With the general down turn nationally for the Conservatives in 1990s, the Labour Party and to a lesser extent the Liberal Democrats began to make gains at the expense of Conservatives and at the high point of anti-conservative sentiment there remained only four Conservative councillors within the authority. The Conservatives, however, have since the mid 1990s recovered their support to regain their position as the largest party on the Council (14 councillors) with the Liberal Democrats now forming the largest opposition group (12 councillors) - Despite this the council remains hung with no overall control. The current (As of May 4 2006 Elections) political composition being as follows.

The original Draft RSS was published in 2006 and the new figures show another 53% increase. Figures for the new plans included - Caradon 6,500 housing units (an increase of 700 on the original document), Carrick - 10,900 housing units (increase of 900), Kerrier 14,400 housing units (increase of 6,200), North Cornwall 13,400 housing units ( increase of 5,800), Penwith - 7,800 housing units (increase of 3,000), Restormel - 15,700 housing units (increase of 7,100).

Source: Wikipedia > Penwith