News Archive

Sex attack councillor spared jail

A ST AUSTELL town councillor found guilty of launching a sex attack on a male teenager walked free from court last Thursday.
Married dad-of-two Denis Bennett, 50, sexually assaulted the 18-year-old man at an address in St Austell in December last year.
He had denied all allegations claiming it was all part of his ‘act’ which involved him impersonating Hi De Hi’s Ruth Madoc and pretending to be Father Christmas, and was not of a sexual nature.
However, the former Liberal Democrat councillor for the Mount Charles ward admitted he may have gone a bit ‘over the top’.
But Bennett, 50, convicted by a jury of one count of sexual assault last month, escaped a jail sentence at Truro Crown Court last Thursday.
He was sentenced to a three year sex offender rehabilitation programme, ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years and told to pay £1,400 towards court costs.

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Vitalise services in the balance

CHARITY Vitalise 'remain hopeful' as discussions are set to resume over the fate of its Lanlivery-based  Churchtown Centre this week.
National disability charity Vitalise last week announced it was to cease operations at the centre later this year following a strategic review. The lease on the property is set to come to an end and the charity made the decision to refocus more of the charity’s resources at its three other UK respite break centres.
Vitalise operations at Churchtown will cease by September 9. The Churchtown activity centre closed on July 31 and the two accessible self-catering lodges in the grounds of Churchtown will close on August 31.
The charity also made the decision to withdraw from providing the day service at Churchtown, which is partly commissioned by Cornwall Council, on September 9 after discussions for the charity Scope to take over the service failed.

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SatNav hell for villagers

FED-UP residents in Goonamarris are demanding action to ban heavy goods vehicles from passing through their village after a series of collisions with their homes.
Villagers are call for signs to be erected prohibiting all heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and articulated lorries from using the narrow lanes which run past their homes over fears someone could be seriously injured.
Lynda Tucker, 46, who has lived in Goonamarris for 12 years, has seen her 19th century barn home hit six times by HGVs struggling to negotiate the junction next to her house towards St Stephen.
She said: “It’s just a nightmare. The thing that worries me is that I just have no idea what I’m coming home to sometimes. I once came home and saw that as a lorry had been trying to turn at the junction another car had come along and smashed right into my home. The driver had a broken leg and was lucky it wasn’t something more serious. The junction is just so dangerous.

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Eco homes to be demolished

A £2.5m eco friendly Restormel-sponsored housing development in St Austell is to be demolished before anyone has moved into the homes.
The development of Cedar Woods, the second phase of the Urban Village development between Polkyth Leisure Centre and Trevail Way, came to a halt in 2009 when the original developers Swan Country Homes went into administration. A St Austell Voice investigation revealed there were a number of structural problems with the construction.
It has now been confirmed that all the buildings are to be demolished.
The land, originally owned by Restormel Council, was sold to Devon and Cornwall Housing Association for £1, with £660,000 funding from the housing corporation and £190,000 from Devon and Cornwall Housing recycling grant fund put towards the project. Devon and Cornwall Housing Association are currently pursuing the recovery of costs through the administrator for Swan Country Homes.

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Charlotte Church in town

Welsh songstress Charlotte Church put in an unexpected appearance at the Eden Arts Café in White River Place last week when she watched her new partner Jonathan Powell and his band.
Hailing from Cardiff, Jonathan is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who released his debut album Forgive this Day in 2009 and was later invited to co-write several tracks for Charlotte’s latest album. Clearly love has blossomed for the taffy tunesmiths as they remain inseparable since Charlotte broke off with her ex, Welsh rugby international Gavin Henson, last year.
The singer turned prime time TV Diva was in the audience at the intimate venue that's already showing early signs of being a celebrity hangout since opening its doors earlier this year.
Manager Dan Ball was delighted to see his A list celeb: "Tonight was really chilled and special. Charlotte, as well as her children, really enjoyed the ambiance of the cafe and it was a pleasure to welcome her and Jonathan and I'm sure our guests enjoyed mingling with a true celebrity."

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Museum popular with visitors

AROUND two thousand history hungry visitors have passed through the doors of St Austell Museum to look at ancient artefacts from the town since it opened its doors in June.
Now in its third month, the museum has more than 200 visitors a week coming from near and far to look at the hub of memories within the Market House.
Since it’s opening in June, more historical artefacts marking St Austell’s history have been brought forward and donated to the museum including an iconic ash tray from the first Odeon cinema, an 1840 Tithe book of the parish listing all field names and landowners, and also a St Austell Brewery mortgage ledger dating from 1910.
Organised and developed by the St Austell Old Cornwall Society, the museum is now run by volunteers.

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Charity centre closing down

A CHARITY which provides holidays and outdoor activities for young disabled people is set to close its Lanlivery centre.  
Vitalise said it had decided “with regret” to close the centre at Churchtown and focus its services on its three other UK centres, in Hampshire, Essex and Merseyside.
The day centre, activity centre and residential and self-catering accommodation for families has been leased for the past 10 years from the disability charity Scope.
Churchtown’s 12-acre centre caters for groups and individuals from six to twelve-years-old and the activities are fully accessible to people of all abilities.
In a statement Vitalise said: “As a result of Vitalise’s lease on the property coming to an end, a decision has been made to refocus more of the charity’s resources on its core service, namely the provision of short breaks with care for people with physical disabilities at its three accessible UK respite break centres.
“Therefore it is with regret that Vitalise operations at Churchtown will be ceasing by September 9. The activity centre closed on July 31 and the two accessible self-catering lodges in the grounds will close on August 31.

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Councillor guilty of sex assault

A St Austell town councillor and community stalwart has been found guilty of carrying out a sex attack on a teenager.
Denis James Bennett, 50, was convicted of sexually assaulting the 18-year-old youth at Truro Crown Court on Thursday.
The attack took place at an address in St Austell, on December 7 last year, and Bennett was arrested at his place of work four days after the incident.
During the two-day trial, his barrister, Iain Leadbetter, said Bennett’s camp remarks and jokes had been misconstrued, and likened him to Carry On comedian Kenneth Williams.
But the jury, made up of five women and seven men, took just over one hour to unanimously find Bennett guilty of one count of sexual assault.
Prosecutor Alistair Verheijen said Bennett had been sexually motivated and had touched his victim uninvited and without consent.
The Liberal Democrat councillor for the Mount Charles ward admitted touching the boy, but claimed it had been all part of his ‘act’, which included mimicking Hi De Hi’s Ruth Madoc, Willy Wonka and pretending to be Father Christmas, and was not of a sexual nature.

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Beach scheme goes ahead

Construction of the controversial Carlyon Bay beach development could begin early next year after the Secretary of State gave the go ahead for the scheme last week.
Cornwall Council’s Strategic Planning Committee unanimously voted in support of the long awaited scheme in June, after which the decision was refered to the National Planning Casework Unit (NCPU) who on July 15 refered it to Mr Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
With the NCPU consideration period set to end on August 5, Mr Pickles took just 11 days to reach the decision to not 'call in' the application.
In a letter he said he did not consider that there was any sufficient reason to call in the application and that the application should therefore be decided at local level.
He said had closely examined the impact of the proposal and the key policy issues but did not believe that the application was in conflict with national policies.

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Beer cheer for City Bid

BANNERS supporting St Austell’s bid for City honours for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee have been springing up around the town in the last week.
The City Bid logo was designed by Leap and the banners produced by Cornwall Signs at no cost to the tax payer.
And this week St Austell Brewery have announced they will be brewing a special one-off beer in suppoprt of the City Bid for this year’s Celtic Beer Festival.
Brewery boss James Staughton said: “In my humble opinion the last twenty years has seen St Austell suffer from an inferiority complex and, as a result, a lack of confidence in our ability to compete with the rest of the County. This is a nonsense and we should do something about it!
“St Austell now has so much to celebrate, what with the opening of Eden, the regeneration of the Town Centre together with the fact that a number of thriving businesses are based here and still growing. Then consider the new job-creating developments that are scheduled to be built and you get a real sense of optimism and pride for the future of St Austell.
“A successful City Bid gives us all the chance to shout about the town from the rooftops. Let’s go for it!”

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