Chapter 4: What We’re Doing Next

And that includes the fantastic legacy of the Partnership, which may even begin to meet face to face again as restrictions lift.

It includes looking at the new challenges ahead, and knowing that our strength lies in our ability to collaborate, to communicate, and to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.

And it includes learning about how we can become more resilient, like considering how to embrace and use new thinking, like doughnut economics, which gives us a frame to make sure that whatever we do economically, no-one is left behind, and at the same time, we don’t breach our planetary boundaries.

There’s lots said about equal acccess, and making sure we have a fair society. But the truth is that our society does not make it easy for everyone to share what we have. If we want to see our place, our home, our community, as a shared asset, something for all people to live in and also visit, then we need to constantly make sure we’re not leaving people behind. It’s no good if we have fabulous places that people come to visit from afar, but we have forgotten to make sure our own communities can do so to; or if we make sure you can come and enjoy this place, as long as you have no disability that makes it impossible, and you can’t even let us know about it.

So we’re working on a plan to collaborate with Disability Cornwall, The Sensory Trust, local social prescribers, local volunteering charity Volunteer Cornwall, community members and businesses and attractions to see how truly accessible we are and make it even better. We have trampers to see the landscape, and National Trust volunteers to help people use them; and we have clear signage and a warm welcome; but you don’t know what you don’t know, as they say. So we’re going to find out.

We know there’s a lot of interest in places like ours. Things like new routes that are part of a wider cycling or walking route, new extreme sport proposals, film companies, theatre companies, books, articles and programmes on wild swimming or fly/overnight camping or “hidden” beaches – and more. To keep it a thriving community in a spectacular place, we need to manage that interest. So the Partnership will work to make sure that local community members are informed about interest that could have a negative impact, on our people, our place, our habitat and our economy, so we can consider and decide ourselves, and manage our place, together, as a community.