Truro’s new mayor says recovery from the Covid-19 crisis will be a long process which will need “cooperation, goodwill and imagination” within the city.
Over 200 years of tradition changed on Monday night (May 11) when Truro’s annual Mayor Making took place online via Zoom when the city council elected Bert Biscoe as its chairman and Mayor of Truro, with Jan Allen elected deputy mayor.
Mr Biscoe said: “This is the most difficult time I have known in my 30 or so years as a city councillor. We have met the challenge of lost income and the needs of our staff to be safe, by offering furlough to about half our workforce, and by cutting costs where we can.
“So, for instance, summer planting will not be its usual abundant self. But we are intent upon keeping the toilets open and we hope that we can get the library open before too long.”
He stressed that changes would have to be made in the city to combat the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is important, as we deal with everyday challenges, to look forward,” said Mr Biscoe, who has sat on Truro City Council since 1987.
“Recovery is going to be a long process which will need cooperation, goodwill and imagination. Government borrowing means further restraint on the public purse, and this will need the council to be very careful if it is to maintain the many services it now provides.
“It is important that we all strive to work together to continue to defeat the virus, and that we also think about change, and how things might look as recovery gets moving. I’m glad and relieved to see the Towns Fund project getting going, and a cultural strategy beginning to emerge as we prepare for reopening Hall for Cornwall."
Mr Biscoe, who is also the Cornwall councillor for Boscawen Division, which includes the town centre, added: “Everybody is focused upon defeating this pernicious virus. The shut-down and its effects are causing damage to families, to businesses, to the towns, resorts and industries of Cornwall.
“It is important that, within strict guidelines, as trade resumes, we, the custodians of the town, are able to respond to the small-steps announcements made by the Government by getting our central trading area ready for business, as and when it starts again.
“We are aiming for Truro to be as safe and bustling as it can be, given social distancing and other protective measures, and to be as attractive as our talented and committed gardeners can make it. We are very grateful to Cornwall Council and Cormac for picking up this important work as soon as is now possible.”
Speaking at the on-line ‘ceremony’, Mr Biscoe announced that council contractor Cormac will resume work on the refurbishment of the surface to Truro’s central Boscawen Street on Monday, May 25.
The setts, or cobbles, are being lifted, cleaned and reset in a scheme to deal with subsidence.
The mayor also welcomed the announcement by town clerk Roger Gazzard that the easing of lockdown restrictions announced by the Prime Minister means that the parks department will be able to complete its town centre planting programme for this year.
Mr Biscoe also paid tribute to his predecessor.
He added: “Truro has been lucky to have had Bob Smith as our mayor for the past year. He has led the council with quiet, self-effacing style and skill, and has set up the cultural strategy project, and we now have a youth council, whose challenge and partnership I look forward to developing with Bob’s continuing help.”
Mr Biscoe has held several cabinet posts and chairmanships during his tenure on the city council. This is his first time as Mayor of Truro.
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He lives in the heart of Truro and is an independent councillor, with a background in administration, event management and the arts. He is a poet and songwriter with a strong interest in history, geography, archaeology, economics and community development.
Deputy mayor Jan Allen is a former head teacher in junior education. She lives at Kea and has been a member of Truro City Council since 2017.
She is a Conservative, with interests in cycling, gardening, sailing and the arts. Jan was a steward at the Hall for Cornwall for many years and is eagerly anticipating the re-opening of the venue in a few months’ time.
