IT’S no secret that, for all the billions spent, Cornish economic development funding hasn't always had a rosy past. Despite the big European money we used to receive, there was, all too often, precious little sustained wealth creation for local people once that money was spent.

We used to see sugar-rush cycles, created by the begging-bowl grant culture of short-term schemes; alongside a frankly unclear record of demonstrating where, and why, the money went and how local people benefited. That's why I'm delighted that Cornwall Council's approach to economic development is maturing and evolving to meet the needs of Cornwall's strongest growing industries today.

In my recent Clay Country Roadshow, I spoke to hundreds of local residents about the way in which they'd like to ensure they receive true benefit from the growth of Cornwall's most promising industries. Local jobs, skills, infrastructure and services were squarely on people's wish list.

But, like Clay Country residents, I'd like to see Labour's Kernow Industrial Growth Fund support local ownership, just like we used to have in our minerals industry. Public money should ensure public benefit: of course, funds that enable a private company to grow and hire more people are all well and good and private investment is, of course, essential when developing industry, but this time must be different.

There must be no "crowding out" of investment that may have happened anyway and these investments cannot be subsidies that simply go to line the pockets of the companies with the best bid writers. Investing in local and management ownership would be a strong way of ensuring that the benefits of public money stay in Cornwall.

As much as I was disappointed to see Imerys unable to invest further cash in its perfectly good British Lithium project at Roche, it is understandable from the company's perspective given the state of the world it operates in, but it is also a major and timely opportunity to allow local workers themselves to step up and put their own resources towards progressing the project to the next stage. I'm sure we can all encourage the Kernow Industrial Growth Fund — a great achievement for Cornwall in the Labour Government's recent budget — to support that.

As I've urged before, good governance, a level of sector specialisation drawn from people with deep knowledge of Cornwall's distinctive growth sectors — marine, critical minerals and clean energy supply chains — and deep commercial discipline are needed.

The acid test for me will be whether the investment mobilised off the back of this new fund, together with Cllr Tim Dwelly's envisaged "evergreen fund" for the community project side, as well as the solution Cllr Sarah Preece has managed to bring together for the Visitor Economy, genuinely outweighs what we received through Shared Prosperity Funding, not just in quantum, but in lasting, measurable impact for local people.

With so many projects moving from development to commercialisation, the time is ripe for investment. When the state does its part, that investment must be returned, as far as possible, to Cornwall's coffers and recycled back into future projects, building a genuine legacy for the Duchy. I am extremely proud that Cornwall's Labour MPs secured this fund — but I hope it is just the beginning of our work to transform Cornwall's economy for generations to come.