It was brilliant to be in Camborne for Trevithick Day recently, among friends, to see the town at its best. Camborne is a town with a rich and proud history, much of which you can see in the brilliant architecture around the town. It is an important opportunity for us all to celebrate the life of one of Camborne’s favourite sons and his work to help our local economy prosper.
I thoroughly enjoyed going around the town with the current MP George Eustice, and talking about the exciting and promising future that our town has. In order for us to for us to deliver on this, we must build more homes and create the right environment locally to increase the amount of highly skilled jobs.
During the industrial revolution and throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, Camborne and Redruth were among some of the richest towns in England. Our thriving mining industrial base helped put our area on the map and build a strong economy. However, more recently starting in the 1980s there was a feeling of decline that culminated with South Crofty closing its doors in 1998.
However, from 2010 this began to change. We now have some exciting developments going on locally including the fibre hub at Pool, the regeneration of both Camborne and Redruth through the Towns fund and Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) fund respectively, Geothermal at United Downs and now the reopening of South Crofty. I visited the mine myself a few months ago and was suprised at how fast the site is developing. Soon the mine will be fully dewatered, and we can again begin mining tin and also other materials like lithium too.
As the use of technology in society continues to grow, so will the demand for materials that can be mined from places like South Crofty. It is my view that we should mine these materials domestically rather than having to source them from overseas from countries with questionable human rights in Africa or Asia.
I am incredibly proud and grateful to George for the work he has done up to this point, but I am clear that there is still much more to be done. Cornwall has led the way in the past and I am confident that with the right tools we can lead the way again. It is my sincere hope that Richard Trevithick will not be the last famous inventor and industrialist that Camborne produces, and I will work tirelessly to see more of our young people given the tools they need to follow in his rather sizable footsteps.
