Putting Ideas Into Practice
Zoe co-organised a Green Day to reconnect the local community after Covid-19 lockdowns, swiftly followed by a Tree Day to educate and train the community in protecting mature trees and woodlands, and a Blue Day to understand and protect the ocean from which, once upon a time, we all came..
These events were part of the practical, community-led politics Zoe had hoped to pursue when she joined the Council. Alongside larger motions and debates, there were smaller opportunities to make tangible changes around the town and bring people together.
Asking Difficult Questions
As her term progressed, however, Zoe increasingly found herself asking questions about how Council decisions were being made, how public money was being spent and whether the environmental and social commitments made in the Council chamber were being reflected in practice.
This became particularly significant as Falmouth Docks sought support for an expansion of its operations to accommodate larger cruise ships and proposed offshore wind development. Plans included dredging the harbour, raising questions for Zoe about historic contamination, environmental impact and the Docks’ safety record. With a scientific background, she believed these were questions an elected councillor had a responsibility to ask.
At the same time, relationships within the Council had deteriorated considerably. At New Year, Zoe received a call from Devon and Cornwall Police informing her that Mayor Kirstie Edwards had reported her for stalking and harassment. A nine-month police investigation followed before the matter was closed with no further action due to lack of evidence.
For Zoe, the timing raised troubling questions about the growing isolation she was experiencing while continuing to scrutinise decisions affecting her ward and the wider town.
A Lasting Legacy
Despite the difficulties of the later years, Zoe’s time as a councillor also produced small but lasting changes around Falmouth.
These include the creation of a resilient 3 x 2 metre map for community workshops and events, signage to direct pedestrians onto the safer walkway in the old cemetery beside Swanpool Hill, and the establishment of Cornish seasonal traditions such as a winter Wassail in Falmouth.
SK: THIS IS WHAT WAS HERE ORIGINALLY (FROM “ASKING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS), IF YOU DON’T LIKE ABOVE, COPY IT BACK IN, OTHERWISE THIS AND BELOW NEEDS DELETING.
At New Year, Zoe received a call from Devon and Cornwall police to tell her that the Mayor, Kirstie Edwards had reported her for ‘stalking and harassment’. This began nine months of police harassment before the investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence.. You might have thought that the police would have told her that spotting a Council colleague at a music festival and a university conference doesn’t make them your stalker; and told the Town Clerk that he could not sign as a ‘witness’ to a 13 page ‘crime’ report concerning events at which he wasn’t even present..
the Falmouth Docks management began seeking support to expand their operations to cater to vast cruise ships and proposed wind power. They plan to dredge the harbour of half a million tonnes of long silted over bio-toxic anti-fouling agent that they’d long ago dumped from the docks. Can it be coincidence that the only Councillor with a scientific background and willing to ask questions about the Docks’ management’s safety record was attacked, isolated and silenced in that very period?