THERE was a heated discussion at the recent Bude-Stratton town council meeting, when a member of the public asked for the council’s response to the proposed ‘Devonwall’ constituency.

At the October 6 meeting of the full council, councillors were confronted by local lady, Jacqueline Heard, who attended as a member of the public.

Jacqueline has recently been made a bard of Gorsedh Kernow, an organisation dedicated to preserving Cornwall’s language, heritage and culture.

She asked the councillors for their response to the proposed ‘Devonwall’ constituency, and enforced how important it is to preserve Cornish culture.

Jacqueline said: “It’s really important to keep our Cornish culture and language because we have a strong Celtic culture here. I am very concerned, and we, in Cornwall, need to have a clear commitment. People are unaware of our culture and importance.

“Cornwall has a special, deep history and culture. It would be a tragedy to ignore.”

In response, the council said that ‘whether Cornish or other it [Devonwall] should be taken very seriously’.

Cllr Lea Deely, not originally from Cornwall, was questioned on her comment in previous weeks regarding the proposed constituency, alleging she found ‘positivity’ in the proposal.

In response, she said that it was her own personal opinion, not an opinion on behalf of the council, and that she only said that she would hope there would be benefits for the town if Devonwall were to go ahead.

Cllr Norman Tucker said: “You shouldn’t say that in this chamber. As long as it’s your own personal opinion and doesn’t reflect the opinion of the town council.”

Cllr David Parsons (Lib Dem), Cornwall Councillor for Bude, said: “Devonwall would mean the MP would have to take up an important role, dealing with Cornwall Council, Torridge District Council, Devon County Council and more, which would be hopeless.

“It is depressing to come back to this discussion time and time again. It should have been knocked on the head a long time ago.”

Cornwall Councillor, Paula Dolphin (Lib Dem), was also in attendance, and reported to the council that Cornwall Council has discussed the matter in previous meetings, and that they have written a letter to the government to ask for a change of rules, to ‘keep Cornwall, Cornwall’.