Cornwall holiday row intensifies: Huge row as residents fed up
A ROW over holiday homes in Cornwall has intensified as councillors call for a cap on second home ownership. Residents have complained of soaring house prices.
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Cornwall could bring in holiday home licences and a cap on the number of second homes. The county is attempting to combat overtourism.
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There is a lack of affordable housing in Cornwall as residents complain that second home ownership has driven up prices.
Oliver Monk, a Conservative councillor in Cornwall, said that caps on second homes needed to be introduced.
“The next major step is giving the local authority the regulatory powers to be able to licence the amount of holiday accommodation that there is in the duchy and the amount of housing that can be available for second homes,” he told The Telegraph.
He said the powers would be applied on an area by area basis rather than be used to block all second homes.
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Monk said that second homes were not just a problem as they also bring in lots of money to Cornwall.
Second home renovation also provides work opportunities for builders, tilers and home improvement workers.
However, he said that “the pandemic has acted as a catalyst to speed up the inequalities that have existed in the Cornish housing market for a long time".
The issue may be less of a problem this year as British tourists decide to holiday abroad instead.
Malcolm Bell of Visit Cornwall, told Express.co.uk: “We will be back to a normal year.
“I think all the angst last year was because people couldn’t go abroad. Last year people felt like they needed a holiday.
“They couldn’t go abroad so they thought ‘Oh I’ll go to Cornwall, or Devon or Cumbria or wherever'.
“I think there will be a lot of second home owners who will find they can’t get what they got last year as there won’t be as much interest.”
Visit Cornwall has proposed a new plan to require holiday lets to register which may help to control numbers.
Some Cornwall residents have said they are no longer able to live in the county due to the high prices.
The issue may be exacerbated by a lack of available housing due to a national housing shortage.
Michael Gove, levelling up secretary, said that the Government would not meet its target to build 300,000 new homes this year.
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He announced plans to allow residents to organise street-level referendums on planning applications.
In Cornwall, the council has built some micro houses to lift pressure while Mr Monk said the county needed 10,000 affordable homes.
He said: “The problem that we face is quite often the very people who berate us for not building houses are the same people who object to any type of affordable housing accommodation planning application.”
