If you're from Cornwall, how do you personally feel about tourists and second home owners?

[Beerlovingwalker]

Genuinely curious really, as an outsider that loves Cornwall.

On the one hand, it must be nice to know that so many people love the beauty of your county and I'm sure it's nice to share it. However, it also must be difficult to adjust from living fairly quietly in the Autumn/winter months, to suddenly have to share your space with so many million tourists and second home owners in the summer.

@HesterShaw1

You do have nicer beaches and weather though.

Cornwall generally has shit weather. Just saying.

Really . I’ve always been told it’s got nicer weather then Manchester where I am 😂😂

I looked up rainfall once and we have more here than Manchester. Obviously this could have changed but it still rains an awful lot so doubt it

There was a piece on sky on this today and i thought it was really sad a young man couldn't buy in his home town because of second home owners coming in, pushing prices up.

@SixesAndEights yeh I know about the clauses on some places. I have family in some areas of the lakes and they have clauses. I’ve stayed in grange over sands, Windermere, cockermouth and places like that and never ever been made to feel I wasn’t welcome when I stayed there. I know jobs are hard to find there though as I looked at one point when my mum bought her retirement property.

Seems like a pretty hostile crowd. I would not buy a second home there or go on holidays. I heard quite a bit of how the view tourists and visitors. The world is rounded so rather go where I am welcome and weather is nicer.

@AlecTrevelyan006

This is why we need much more social housing right across the country. I like Cornwall, been there many times, and there is plenty of space for more homes. You could build 20,000 new social houses and it wouldn't even make a tiny dent on the landscape.

Slightly off topic, but I'd like to see post-covid, post-Brexit Britain embark on a massive housebuilding programme - that's the best way to bring down prices, while also creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

You absolutely don’t need to build more houses. The market is screwed because the first rung on the housing ladder is being bought by buy to let landlords as part of a portfolio.

My housing policy:anyone can have one house to rent out at any price, Any more than that they can only be rented out at the local Housing Association rental price.
Any more than three and you have to take people of the Housing Register.

It's a beautiful part of the world but I couldn't live with those roads !

What’s the point of all the hostility though? How does it help? I doubt second home owners care whether the locals begrudge them their hard earned house or not.

@TeenMinusTests

Possibly inflammatory comment: Second home owners have somewhere along the line bought from locals who sold to them. Any local person can choose not to sell to an out of towner.

Unless you want a system like Jersey which restricts who can buy certain property?

I'm in the process of selling a delightful cottage in an attractive area within sensible weekending distance of London. Because I'm the executor of my dad's estate. If I turn down an offer because I think it might be from a second home owner all my brothers and sisters will quite rightly go ballistic.

Maybe the answer is no more tourism unless you're in a tent or camper van.

I remember staying in Devon , near the border with Cornwall, and we decided to visit the Eden Project , the year after it opened. No satnavs so I was map reading but figured that we'd see signs fairly near the site.
Nope.
They'd all been ripped off. Heaven knows how we found it , I think we just followed the traffic in the area as it wasn't listed on the map.

Maybe leave ' Cornwall for the Cornish' as I've previously seen scrawled on walls and bridges.

The locals are quite capable of freezing the new 2nd home owners into feeling very sheepish, believe me.

"If second-homers rent their places out for (say) 30 weeks/year, would that make a difference - is it the emptiness that's the problem, or the fact that there isn't enough housing both for residents and holidaymakers?"

It's all these things.
Letting the cottage out to tourists so registering as a business is a way of avoiding council tax on second homes in some areas.

Do the Cornish councils not support shared ownership schemes for local youngsters? There are a lot of these in my county and they seem a good way of ensuring access to affordable housing for those who are local.

"Maybe the answer is no more tourism unless you're in a tent or camper van."

Hotel tourism is better for the local area isn't it. Some people travel in camper vans etc. with all their food already with them and contribute nothing to the local economy.

The tide is turning and some places such as St Ives and Padstow are taking action but until there is nationwide legislation, let’s make second home ownership socially unacceptable.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-may-close-door-on-second-home-ownership-g3npxfvpq

www.richmondshiretoday.co.uk/dales-villages-being-over-run-with-second-homes-and-holiday-cottages-meeting-hears/

www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/ban-sale-second-homes-welsh-18768692

www.whitbygazette.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/whitby-needs-to-follow-the-likes-of-st-ives-and-padstow-to-help-local-families-buy-homes-3217434

@AuntMarilla

What’s the point of all the hostility though? How does it help? I doubt second home owners care whether the locals begrudge them their hard earned house or not.

It might make some people think before buying their second home. I don't know how you can know whether it's 'hard earned' or not.

I've lived in my Cornish village for 30+ years, and am still not local. But I grew up in west Cornwall. So I am hardened.

I wouldn't buy a second home anywhere knowing that your just being resented the whole time. It would be so uncomfortable.

@MrsSteveMcDonald

I looked up rainfall once and we have more here than Manchester. Obviously this could have changed but it still rains an awful lot so doubt it

Warmer in Cornwall though.

Bleddy freezing at the moment, still got the heating on

I'm from Cornwall but left for uni and didn't move back too. I know exactly what you mean about physically aching to be there but not being able to live there!

@TylluanBach - penllyn siawns?

I echo what everyone else says really - tourists and second homeowners who genuinely let out their properties for the majority of the year are giving something back to the community.

those who use their second homes for a few weeks a year are horrible. but do you know who’s worse? those who claim their second home is a business, but it gets “let out” to friends and family for a pittance. they avoid the council tax surcharge because it’s a business but fall short of the cut off for paying any rates or tax on their income. disgusting. this might not be the case in england (don’t know what your rules are) but it happens in wales.

gwynedd rightly charges 100% extra council tax to second home owners and uses the extra money to provide some affordable housing for local people. it will be a long term improvement, but right now the situation is awful for lots of people who have been priced out. because if second home owners are also buying beach huts for £150k plus, which locals can afford to buy an actual house on a normal salary?

The attitude of Cornwall and to some extent Devon over the last couple of years has made me determined never to set foot in such an unwelcoming and arrogant community again.

I shall spend my hard earned money somewhere else, where we are welcome.

Ah good oh, a poster who assumes the people of Cornwall are all of a single opinion.

I believe second homes are unethical anywhere.

Go to Greece ! Only place I've ever felt ' welcome' and smiled at as a tourist and in Lincolnshire. Really nice people and friendly.
Mostly is the same old thing, we want your money but we don't want you here really !
( which I can understand and covid has made it worse too)