Former councillor no longer working in Spaceport role

FOLLOWING weeks of controversy and concern Cornwall Council-owned company Corserv has confirmed that the council's former cabinet member for the economy is "no longer employed" as the head of future air and space at Spaceport Cornwall.

- by LEE TREWHELA

Questions were asked by politicians of all stripes when it was announced in March that Conservative councillor Louis Gardner had landed the £70,000-a-year role.

A Corserv spokesperson said: "We can confirm Louis Gardner is no longer employed in the position of head of future air and space". Nor did he hold any role with Corserv or Cornwall Airport Newquay, which oversees the Spaceport.

Asked whether he resigned or was sacked, Corserv did not respond. Mr Gardner oversaw Cornwall's Shared Prosperity Funding (SPF), the previous government's “levelling up” scheme, and was a particular champion of the Spaceport in his role as cabinet member for the economy. He relinquished that position after getting the Spaceport job and retired as a Cornwall councillor at May 1's election.