independent Cornish news and comment

MINISTER: RESOLVING SECOND HOME PROBLEM IS TOO MUCH LIKE HARD WORK

The significant problems caused by high levels of second home ownership in some parts of the country will not be solved until the Government itself commits to working on solutions according to Andrew George MP for the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Constituency of St Ives after his meeting with Housing Minister Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP late yesterday (Thursday).


Mr George and Councillor Stan Collins, a housing campaigner from South Lakeland Council in Cumbria, outlined detailed proposals to the Minister. They proposed strengthening the planning system to allow communities affected by high second home ownership to control their proliferation. However, Ms Cooper repeatedly said that her Department was finding the problem ‘really hard’ to solve.

Instead of trying to balance the housing market in West Cornwall which last year saw five times as many houses sold to second home owners as to first time buyers, Department of Communities and Local Government officials are apparently, instead, concentrating on problems of ‘studentification’ in urban areas. Ms Cooper told Mr George that if they failed to make progress with housing in university towns, there would be little hope of working towards solutions to the second homes crisis.

Mr George commented: “Though the door is theoretically still open, Government excuses for inaction are transparently threadbare. The impact which second and holiday homes have on housing affordability in many parts of the country is a problem which the Government seems unwilling to face up to.

“The Minister is also obviously preoccupied with the challenge set for her by the Prime Minister to force feed 3 million new homes on the country – turning our rural environment into a developers’ paradise.

“She seems to accept my argument that the existence of high levels of second home ownership and the prospect of continued preference amongst the more wealthy to invest in property rather than stocks, shares and annuities, will continue to have a devastating impact on the chances of local people on local wages being able to get a toehold in the local property market.

“Cornwall has, for the past 40 years, been amongst the fastest housing growth regions in the UK and yet the problems of local people have got significantly worse. The four western Districts of Cornwall are amongst the most densely populated rural districts in the country and simply allowing Cornwall to continue on the treadmill of rapid housing development when 40 years of that policy has clearly failed will mean that the Government will not be dealing with a fundamental problem which has created the biggest impediment to meeting local housing need.

“The introduction of a new planning control on second home ownership could, if implemented properly, have a very significant impact upon opportunities for local people seeking to get a toehold on the local housing ladder. I explained to the Minister that she has not only the council tax records, but also the Uniform Business Rate records of holiday homes, the electoral register records of local residents and evidence available from Capital Gains Tax as well as local knowledge to use to clarify whether a property is being used for permanent or non-permanent local residence. There is already sufficient information. This is a costless solution for the Government.

“It is possible to differentiate between a second and holiday home and a local home and it is really time the Government Minister started moving this initiative forward.”