Scale of second homes in Cornwall revealed

“H Trevorow does not have his facts correct. Most people who come and live in Cornwall are of working age. Construction jobs are not long term. Population growth for ever and ever is not a sensible solution especially in a place with finite resources.

Kernowprotects argument that people should work harder to be able to afford a home is at best simplistic. If people have a low paid job then they wont be able to afford a home (as I have already pointed out) unless of course people are forced out. That doesnt work either. As the government cuts back on housing benefit they are ironically forcing people to move further away from work.”

“The second homes capital of the UK is in fact London - where over time we taxpayers have subsidised the capital gains of the second homes ( within the rules of course) of many MPs - including Andrew George MP.

As a second home owner in Cornwall I employ loads of people over time in maintaining the property. I pay Council Tax without using Cornwall's Schools. I rarely use its NHS facilities or its refuse disposal service. UI also pay all the costs associated with my second home - unlike scores of MPs.

As for envious Councillors - our new elite with a sense of entitlement - far better if they provided efficicient and cost effective services - rather than votring themsleves a massive 20% increase.

As for the marxist argument that no one should own more than one home - I suggest they get out more and seek their fortune either in Cornwall or further afield. There are 1,500,000 second home owners in the Uk - most of whom have scrimped and worked hard for their second homes from Australia to the Scillies. They have not sat on their proverbial as many do in the West Country whilst East Europeans fill the jobs locals are too lazy to take !”

“Speaking as a 4th home owner myself, its not criminal but it is sinfull to have a house empty for long periods of time. I rent out what I can to young couples and my "holiday place" I let a guy who is down on his luck stay there looking after it for free. They are full all year and provide housing for 7 people.
The housing market is very flexible as people have very different situatiions, there is no need for someone to have their house empty. There is bound to be a solution that will suit all parties.”

“lets establish who are the dimwitted ones.
You restrict any increase in second homes and building new homes for'incomers' as well as stop any further infrastructure development...result is a dramatic decline in construction and allied services and asssociated industries attended, inevitably, by an emmigration of working age peolple in those industries. Because of the natural drift away from Cornwall of working age people the economic growth of the county slows over many other un related industries as cornwalls population stagnates and probably even falls. The population demographic becomes older , less economically active but comes under a huge strain for services for the older more service reliant residents. Result is that Gurners head will get to hospital in no time at all provided this geriatric poulation can still generate enough wealth to pay for an ambulance and once there she will join a long que with the reams of other coffin dodgers all craving the same service and probably attended by staff who should have retired years ago any way.
Not for me thanks”

“Only a dimwit would not understand that there is a relationship between the state of the economy, jobs and wages and housing affordability. If the local can be outbid for a homehome by those with more money from elsewhere can convert them into a second home.”

“Good grief trevorrow I get the distinct impression that someone has shoved the metaphorical red hot poker up your rear end, I would go and cool the affected bit off in a bucket of ice water if I were you.

Infrasrtucture my good man! how often do you try to negotiate the main roads radiating out of Truro or St Austell during working hours in term time, I take it that you are not involved in logistics like I am constantly monitoring vehicles in endless traffic jams in these areas because the roads are beyond capacity.

The solution? more of the same, go for growth and add to the chaos, the same with underpopulation, in North or East Cornwall people may be a bit thin on the ground but mid Cornwall from St Austell west to Camborne there are simply too many people using roads that are basically saturated with traffic.

In Truro the sewage system can only absorb another 500 houses and it is at capacity yet thousands more are proposed, Treliske is the epicentre of the congestion now on a severely restricted site that is bursting at the seams already, the same with schools, centres of gridlock twice a day and you say we are underpopulated... doh!!!!

I just hope and pray that you are never a medical emergency where time is of the essence laying in an ambulance on these roads while your life ebbs away due to the infrastructure failings that caused the traffic jam that may kill you before you arrive at A&E.”

“Poldice the tourism business has been moving away from hotels toward self catering for some time....you do'nt fight the tide. Could you define exactly what development the 'infrastructure' is capable of supporting , weather that threshold has been passed. Your arguments broadly assume infrastructure is under extreme pressure and that we can only now support building for indeigenous need.....on what basis do you decide that the infrastructure cannot be increased further ? How can your 'evidence' be sustained when we all know Cornwall is one of the most underpopulated rural areas of the uk. To me you sound like someone viewing the situation from a nostalgic view point {and political} rather than offering any balance to the debate.
Gernards head...deny statistical evidence and you will only provide solutions by a freak of accident.
These statistics do not prove any linkage between housing waiting lists and numbers of second homes. Shout as loud as you like but it's pure polotics of envy.
If you really are concerned for the housing aspirations of your nieghbours and thier offspring then far better theories are needed than projecting guilt on to an outsider. Thats just lazy and unproductive.”

“Quite. Lets do the math.
Figs from the link given earlier- population of Devon 1.13 million - number of second addresses 45700 {10 k more than the article suggests- the 35k refers to second homes not second addresses- the author is either being deliberately mischievous or is plain stupid by comparing different sets of stats}
Gives us a percentage of 4% second homes in Devon.
To correct my earlier message the percentage for second addresses v population is very similatr to devon at about 4%.
Size of poulation is confusing the issue, so is urban or rural dwelling and so is job opportunity or pay rates.
The topic here is number of second homes/addresses proportionate to overall population .
Also there are not necessarily 23000 second homes just 23000 addresses where several family members or a couple are sharing one holiday home {if a couple both declare one home as a second address each you can cut thte 23000 in half}....likewise 23 000 people may be on a waiting list however that is not the same as homeless...they may require a smaller home, a home with disabled facilities , a bigger home,... they may qualify to be on the housing register for many reasons but not necessarily because they have no home.
Drawing a simplistic balance between a housing register and a statistic for second homes begs the question how the two could be reconciled { even if you can ignore the gross flaws in those comparisons}.... the logic that there would be some genuine way to switch from one situation, second homes, to another, wiping out your housing register can only be considered practicle by someone with th iq of insect.”

“We should clearly differentiate between commercial holiday lets who are legitimate providers of accomodation which are often a lifeline for family farms and second homes that are not occupied on a commercial basis.

This does not belie the fact that speculators still wish to build excessive numbers of homes that will not be needed by local people but rather will continue to fuel excessive population growth with all the implications that infers on an already creaking local infrastructure.

The tourist trade ought to major on good quality reasonably priced hotel accomodation that really does generate economic activity and makes the best possible use of available space without plastering Cornwall with unattractive concrete boxes that masquerade as "executive homes" whatever they are because there are not enough "executives in the world to fill what the likes of Wainhomes or Persimmon are churning out.”

“"Mark Kaczmarek, cabinet member for housing and planning at Cornwall Council, said: "It is criminal to have thousands of properties empty for up to 11 months a year."

It is not "criminal" and how is anyone going stop this? In fact it isn't even a big issue, let say I work in London or Bristol and do very well in life is someone going to stop me living in Cornwall and owning a property in the city as well? The biggest issue on housing is the way it is dealt with now and has been in the past, local councils and councillors have sat back and tended to blame second homes as a problem, moaning on and on while all the while house building hasn't stop in Cornwall as far i can see it keeps been built and looking back over the past years would disagree with me on this? No is answer.

But we need to free up planing now and build more homes but first we to have to attract more industries and technology based businesses, this is the way to get Cornwall moving not by falsely blaming something that isn't a problem.”