The first issue of "Your Cornwall", the new County Council newspaper, will be dropping through the letter boxes of more than 240,000 homes and businesses during July.

The 24 page newspaper has been produced to give residents and businesses in Cornwall more information on the services provided by the County Council.

"Cornwall County Council provides a wide range of services for people who live, work, do business or visit here" said Council Leader David Whalley ( Lib Dem). "These include children's services, such as schools and looking after children in care, adult social services, highway maintenance, waste disposal, libraries, museums, fire and rescue, economic development and trading standards. This year we will serve 524,000 people a year, be responsible for 117,000 children, look after vulnerable adults, manage 500kg of waste per person, manage 6,500 calls and lend out 6 library items every minute."

The 24 page newspaper has been produced to give residents and businesses in Cornwall more information on the services provided by the County Council.

"We decided to produce this new publication because the people of Cornwall told us that we don't keep them well informed enough about these services" added Mr Whalley, "We have listened to what they said and are now taking action to put this right".

"All six District Councils in Cornwall already publish their own newspapers or magazines, and we are one of the last County Councils in the country to produce our own publication".

Adding that the creation of the new unitary authority in April meant it was particularly important to provide information to local people, Mr Whalley said that Your Cornwall was one of a number of ways the Council was developing to improve its communication with local communities.

The first edition of Your Cornwall , which is printed on paper sourced from sustainable forests, contains an A – Z of County Council services and helpful points of contact for other agencies such as Health and the Police. It also includes details of the 82 County Councillors and information on the new single Council, together with articles on the Fire Brigade, the Library Service, Waste Management, Trading Standards and Cornwall's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy.

Although the first edition of Your Cornwall does not contain any adverts because of the early bookings required by Royal Mail, future editions will contain statutory notices, job advertising and general council service advertising. This means that the newspaper will not cost council tax payers any extra money as it will be funded by the money the Council normally spends on advertising these areas in other publications.

"I hope people find Your Cornwall helpful and informative" said Mr Whalley. "We have worked hard to produce an informative and entertaining publication and would welcome any questions and suggestions you have for making an even more enjoyable read in the future".