How do we address poverty in Cornwall when we are working within an economic system based on wealth extraction and impoverishment? This is the question Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum put to Cllr Tim Dwelly. The intention is not to have a go at the council or to disparage the pride felt by many in Cornwall’s mining heritage. Instead we want to trigger a more honest conversation about what kind economy we have – and who ultimately benefits. A copy of the letter is below.
To Cllr Tim Dwelly, Portfolio holder for Economic Regeneration & Investment
Dear Cllr Tim Dwelly 8-December-2025
We are contacting you in your role at Cornwall Council as Portfolio holder for Economic Regeneration & Investment.
Three years ago, Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum set up a working group to develop a proposal for a Community Wealth Fund for Cornwall. It was a year’s intensive work at the end of which we produced a well researched 60 page proposal for the wealth fund. We had expert input from the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London. We also received input from Exeter University and Plymouth University as well as valuable informal advice from individual officers at Cornwall Council – see attached proposal
The proposal was submitted to the then Conservative council leader Linda Taylor and we received initially positive responses from Phil Mason and Kate Kennally, followed by a zoom meeting at which Phil Mason made clear that any such project had to sit outside the council. The conversation then moved onto the possibility of a joint funding proposal to pump prime the funding of the project but the larger question as to who would lead on the project was left unresolved.
Our purpose in contacting you is twofold:
Firstly, to explore any interest on the part of the new Independent party/Liberal Democrat administration for a Cornwall community wealth fund.
Secondly, to highlight our original concerns that were the driving force behind this proposal, specifically: that claims of a ‘mining renaissance’ or Cornwall as a ‘wind energy powerhouse’ could end in newly created wealth being extracted out of Cornwall rather than being reinvested back into the local economy.
While Cornwall has a rich mining heritage, there is a darker side: the significant investment by London-based financiers in the 18th and 19th century transformed small-scale, locally-owned operations into larger more commercial operations allowing power and wealth to be transferred out of Cornwall. When tin and copper mining ended, there was no economic legacy for Cornwall. Instead, Cornwall fell from being at the forefront of the industrial revolution to an impoverished backwater of the state.
We see the same pattern of ‘inward investment’ happening today: both mining and renewable energy are dominated by large outside concerns with substantial links to offshore jurisdictions for ‘tax efficient’ purposes. Cornish Lithium and Cornish Metals are ‘Cornish’ in name only: Cornish Lithium’s largest shareholder is TechMet, based in Dublin, Ireland, one of the top ten global tax havens. Cornish Metals, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, is majority owned Vision Blue Resources headquartered in Guernsey, ranked no. 13 in the tax haven league.
These are just two examples from our own research into companies operating in Cornwall and our findings are mirrored at the national level. According to the report ‘Ending Stagnation’ by the Resolution Foundation, foreign ownership of British firms has risen from 10 per cent in 1990 to over 55 per cent in 2020. That percentage is likely to increase substantially following Donald Trump’s visit with US corporate investment of £150 billion in essentially energy infrastructure, housing and AI.
In effect, for both Cornwall and the UK, the flip side of inward investment is to grant enormous power to corporations to shape our economy in ways that ultimately serve their interests, not ours. Profit is not spent or reinvested locally but off-shored; and tax avoidance deprives our public services of much needed revenue. Moreover, the sheer size of these corporations awards them considerable ‘soft power’ in influencing government policy at both the local and national level over worker’s rights, environmental protection and the wellbeing of communities.
We urgently need to rethink our economic model. Cornwall Council is already moving in this direction through the Good Growth Plan and by forging partnerships with the private sector and national government to deliver growth that tackles the challenges of our time, while improving people’s lives in tangible ways. However, when we contrast this ambition with the table of invest ments shown here, we note that the benefits of such investments may end up in the pockets of distant investors, rather than enhancing local wellbeing.
We want to be helpful rather than critical, and in that spirit we set out three suggestions:
- Local Shareholding: That Cornwall Council arms-length entities (perhaps through a community wealth fund) become shareholders in companies not otherwise committed to delivering social value or wellbeing outcomes in Cornwall ( such as B Corp Cornish companies, or social enterprises).
- Wellbeing and Natural Capital Metrics: That success reporting on these investments aligns with the Office for National Statistics measures of National Wellbeing and Natural Capital. An over emphasis on GVA or growth alone, excludes these considerations, and risks perpetuating inequality.
- Ecological and Social Returns: Cornwall already has Nature Recovery Targets. Alongside financial performance, Cornwall Council should proudly report ecological and social returns as outcomes of equal importance. There will be investors, including the UK Government, ready to support such a fund for Cornwall.
We need to build a more inclusive economy that prioritises social and ecological wellbeing, one that serves the needs of local communities, rather than corporations, whose over-riding motive is profit. The proposed community wealth fund is a first attempt in that direction. The bottom line is that if we sell our social fabric in order to achieve green growth, we will, once again, fail the people of Cornwall.
We look forward to your response in due course.
Andrew Yates, Chair of Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum
Gavin Barker, Trustee, Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum
Zuzanna Michajluk, Community Partnerships and Engagement Officer, Disability Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
Jane Johnson MBE, CEO – Disability Cornwall & IoS.
Rob Rooney, President, Cornwall Trades Union Council
The New Kows 
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