Among the services provided by the council is a
public library service which consists of a main library in Truro and smaller libraries in towns and some villages throughout Cornwall. There are also the following special libraries: Cornwall Learning Library,
Cornish Studies Library, the Education Library Service, and the Performing Arts Library, as well as a mobile library service based at
Threemilestone.
Cultural projects Cornwall Council is promoting ten cultural projects as part of a five-year culture strategy. One project is the development of a
National Theatre of Cornwall, a collaboration of the
Hall for Cornwall,
Kneehigh Theatre,
Eden Project and
Wildworks. Cornwall Council has based its idea on the successful National Theatres of
Scotland and
Wales. Another of the projects is the proposed creation of a
National Library of Cornwall to resolve inadequacies with the current storage of archives. It is hoped that this will bring some important documents concerning Cornish history back to Cornwall as well as providing better public access to those records already held. Cornwall Council is also involved in the project to build a
Stadium for Cornwall.
Cornish ethnic and national identity Cornwall Council backs the campaign for the
Cornish to be recognised as a
National Minority in the UK. The council's then chief executive Kevin Lavery wrote a letter to the Government in 2010, writing, "Cornwall Council firmly believes that the UK Government should recognise the Cornish as a national minority under the terms of the
Framework Convention." Adding that, "Cornwall Council believes that the Government's current restricted interpretation is discriminatory against the Cornish and contradicts the support it gives to Cornish culture and identity through its own departments." Cornwall Council's support was officially reaffirmed as council policy in 2011 with the publication of the Cornish National Minority Report 2, signed and endorsed by the then leaders of every political grouping on the council. The council took an active role in the promotion of the options for registering Cornish ethnicity and national identity on the
2011 UK Census. The Cornish people were finally recognised as a National Minority by the British Government on 24 April 2014 and incorporated into the
European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities giving the Cornish the same status as the United Kingdom's other Celtic peoples, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.
Cornish nationhood Since 2025, Cornwall Council has supported
constituent country status for Cornwall, which would make it the UK's fifth constituent country alongside England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The council argues that Cornwall is culturally, ethnically and linguistically distinct from England, which Cornwall is currently a county of, and plans to discuss Cornwall's recognition as a distinct country of the UK with the UK Government. In September 2025, the council backed a public petition of 24,000 signatories calling for Cornish nationhood. Responding to the petition, the government said it did not plan to change Cornwall's constitutional status, instead favouring greater devolution to Cornwall within England. ==International relations==