MY work on a plan for Newquay kicked off with a bang at my Tourism Summit at the start of the month. Given the central role high street businesses in Newquay’s visitor economy plan in shaping the town, I went straight to the experts – local businesses – to tell me what can be done to make the tourism industry really work for Newquay as a place and for local people more widely. An action plan is underway.

As for the scale of the challenge in St Austell, I will always be transparent about the extent of my influence – I can’t transform the town alone. I’ve called in Parliament for additional funding – but the White River Place experiment shows that not all investment is created equal and that money alone - if thrown into assets not fit for the context – cannot solve the problem.

I’ve sat as a member of the Town Council’s Revitalisation Committee which, together with St Austell Town Council, Holy Trinity Church, the British Legion and Cornwall Council, is helping deliver our new church piazza which will breathe life into the top end of town.

On the elephant in the room – that of antisocial behaviour – which has continued to blight the appetite of local traders and shoppers alike: We cannot keep doing the same things and expecting different results. I have asked Cornwall Council to explore a more data-led way forward, based on accurate information about sheltered accommodation provision, the impact of drugs and alcohol services commissioned, and the concentration and flows of vulnerable people around the town centre. I have asked Cornwall Council to present this approach when I launch my Pledge for St Austell late this summer. I am hopeful that with a more scientific approach, we can begin to respond in a way which is more sympathetic to the town centre.

I’ve also tabled a proper plan to end the impasse at the site of the now derelict General Wolfe, which successive council administrations have sat on, and given the community the tools they need to step up should they wish to preserve it.

In moving my office into the high street, I’m putting my office budget where my mouth is and have real skin-in-the-game in delivering a revitalised town centre.

Meanwhile, drawing on the Shared Prosperity Funding which Cornwall’s Labour MPs fought so hard to secure new commitment to after it was set to end, I am supporting local projects in St Austell, Newquay and the Clay Country to bid into it.

But, there is much more work to be done on the High Street which is why, following the successful launch of my Report into Community Land Trusts, and drawing on my investment background, am also helping to establish a vehicle for the Community to take a greater stake in the housing and property in our town centre so they have a means to turn things around.

If you would like to know more about the proposed Community Land Trust or the official Launch of my Pledge for the Town, sign-up via: tr.ee/townspledge