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.

On the news this morning that people looking for property in Cornwall has gone up 140% - highest growth rate of any county.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.cornwalllive.com/news/property/property-searches-cornwall-increase-140-5369931.amp

Better get used to it, Cornwall cos it ain’t about to get better...

What is it with these threads at the moment?

I commented on one last week that specifically asked for residents of Cornwall to give their experiences and lo and behold lots of posters who have been here once on holiday, or better still, have a friend who has been here, jumped on to say how racist, insular, unfriendly everyone was here. Also how schools, healthcare, jobs, infrastructure etc was crap.

They then wonder why the residents of Cornwall are a little disgruntled!!!

There is one poster on here that is trying to make turn this into a whataboutery thread because what about poor old London.

The OP asked about people who live in Cornwall.

If you want to discuss the appalling state of housing in London why not start your own thread?? This one was asking a very specific question.

A bit of advice to those who don't live in Cornwall - maybe don't answer questions that aren't for you if you don't want to hear people's thoughts?

A bit like an OP saying "if you live in London who should be the next Mayor " followed by a pile on from people living in Cornwall saying "well in my opinion everyone in London is an uptight, money obsessed twat so who cares". Wonder how that would go down.

To pp re Da Bara - have you seen the size of their croissants???

PS never heard tourists here described as grockles (think you need to cross the Tamar for that one).

And yes, we have a second home very close to us which is empty for about 40+ weeks of the year.

Thank you @NursePye - could have written every word of this!

And yes, we have a second home very close to us which is empty for about 40+ weeks of the year.

No shit! 😆

Also, Cornwall is very low paid. Wages are low. It’s disappointing when you see salaries for other places.

And, there is a lot of poverty here. In Falmouth (Yes, Falmouth!!!!) there is a lot of child poverty.

Cornish residents are really struggling in some areas, really struggling.

Some of the naivety on here is scary. Raise CT or ban 2nd homes - you know most MPs have one, and parliament is full of landlords?

If there was any chance of a party gaining power with an agenda to ban 2nd (or more) home ownership, the race to buy one would put the nail in the coffin of any hope for 1st time buyers, and the compensation to pay off all those 2nd home owners and private landlords would bankrupt the country.

It's all about the cinnamon buns for me nursepye

appleappleapple very true on the poverty in Falmouth. Large homeless population too.
I know there are ties to some property yes, but it's a drop in the ocean and it's too late. I heard about a local group who jointly bought a field and have built their own houses over on the Roseland which sounded great.

So in answer to the op noone minds the tourists, we like a moan but we know the score. Second homes are hated for all the reasons people have mentioned in this thread. I think the huge entitlement that we saw through covid lockdowns has made the divide far wider.

Ah @eliope - they are positively dangerous

Some of the naivety on here is scary. Raise CT or ban 2nd homes - you know most MPs have one, and parliament is full of landlords

Well to be fair we needed a parliament full of men to give women the vote...and indeed a parliament full of white men to abolish slavery. It does happen!

As for not living in Cornwall, the same considerations apply to Devon and I grew up there. And we can post on whatever threads we like on MN - you don't get to police threads.

I'm from St Ives in West Cornwall. I have no issue in fact love the tourists, my childhood is filled with amazing me memories of summers on the beach with new friends every year, some of which became life long friends through tourism! Second home owners on the other hand, not so much love for, not on a personal level, the council/government could have put measures in place to avoid it. Unfortunately I had to move away from my home town as could never afford to live there and even tourism has had its effect, there's not much in the way of year round work and little to no mid level jobs meaning behind the gloss of inner town there's the one of the highest poverty levels in Europe.

These issues are everywhere in the UK though, not just here, its more an issue of the wealth divide, due to the lack of industry here it seems harder though even buses drop by a third come winter, not ideal for anyone rural without a car, other places I'm sure suffer the same!

I think some people blame tourists when in reality, they should be blaming the council for refusing businesses to start up and create jobs etc in case it upsets tourism, that's the issue. Unfortunately people will be put off visiting because those few who 'hate' tourists shout louder. Most of us locals are friendly!

In France the local mairie (mayors office) has the first right to buy on every property. It doesn't stop second home owners and ghost towns as far as I can see but might be worth thinking about for the uk with local councils having first right of purchase.

With regard to locals selling their homes are you really expecting someone to not take say, £600,000? You'd turn that down and offer Mr and Mrs Curnow the property for £75,000? Of course you wouldn't and nor would an executor. That's a ridiculous victim blame game if ever I've heard it.

It's not the locals fault that their house in ye olde Cornish village is in such high demand though is it? They haven't created that demand actively or inactively.

These two statements seem to contradict each other to me. Locals may not have created the demand, but they are showing their full acceptance of and agreement with it if they choose to sell to the highest bidder rather than the one they feel worthiest. I take your point with executors, but loads of houses are still sold by living people and, of those being sold after a death, the executors are very often also those inheriting, so they can decide between themselves if they value their principles over the money they can make.

If a majority of Cornish people are keen to keep houses for locals/full-time residents, and make selling decisions based on those criteria, they must accept that those houses are effectively going to remain worth much less - the equivalent of what an average Cornish person can afford to pay rather than the highest price that anybody interested could afford to pay.

Either way, you simply can't expect to get the highest price that the national/international market will bear whilst still restricting your pool of potential buyers to those from just one (largely less wealthy) county.

FWIW I found Simon Reeve’s documentary a pretty sad and slightly bitter view of Cornwall. There are some social issues here but he I felt he could have shown more of the massively exciting industry growing here around geothermal, creative industries, tech, renewable energy etc. There are careers here, for the spirited, hard working and entrepreneurial.

I'm glad you said this. I found this documentary really infantilising. People living in Cornwall can't throw up their hands and say "there are no jobs". It's up to those that live there so start and run the businesses that will thrive there and create more career opportunities for residents, aside from tourism. And many steps in that direction have been made - interestingly, many initiatives were primarily funded by yet more unwelcome outsiders in the form of EU development grants! Clearly that was as well received as the tourists.

"so they can decide between themselves if they value their principles over the money they can make."

Like I said, if they make it clear they will only sell to locals, they'll get pilloried.

It's even difficult with former council houses. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/3663760.stm

Second home owners and tourists are totally different imo.

Cannot stand the amount of second homes around. In my mother in laws street 90 percent of houses are second homes and empty most of the time. Whereas locals are being pushed out and cannot afford to live in the areas they are born in.

As for tourists, it can get a little frustrating where everywhere is so damn busy in the summer but we need the money for the economy after all. I respect most tourists but the ones who litter, don’t respect the coast and countryside get under my skin - but I think they are in the minority. I just tend to go out a little earlier in the morning during the summer when it’s quieter and enjoy the quiet time during the winter months.

A friend's brother ploughed a great deal of his own money into two projects to harness wave energy in Cornwall and in Orkney, but when the decisions were made as to which avenues to take forward, wind won. I happen to think that tidal and wave generating systems should not be sidelined, but they are expensive to engineer because the power of the sea is so immense. Only big businesses or governments can afford the huge capital investments.

There are several projects exploring for rare earth metals in Cornwall too, one of them very close by. I wish them well, but there will be protesting voices if anyone starts mining because extractive industries tend to be dirty and damaging to the environment which attracts tourism.

There seem to be plenty of affordable houses in Cornwall on Rightmove.

Is this a case of people wanting to live in the nicest parts with their first step onto the properly ladder??

Would Cornwall want independence if Scotland does manage to split from the UK in the near future?
Is it something that could happen ?

sadeyed You're thinking Burnham Market? 2/3rds of homes are allegedly second homes. Primary school but nearest secondary is half an hour away by car, so don't miss the bus if your family can't afford a car or are using it to get one of you to work in the opposite direction. Streets lined with wonderful delicatessens, restaurants, coffee shops, dress shops, SUVs and men in red cords. None of the new homes built nearby are under £300,000.

@Mmn654123

There seem to be plenty of affordable houses in Cornwall on Rightmove.

Is this a case of people wanting to live in the nicest parts with their first step onto the properly ladder??

What do you mean by affordable? Affordable on Cornwall wages? Probably not.

[quote Jellybabiesforbreakfast]@tecatea. I think the environment has already been destroyed in many places. Cornwall is hugely overrated. Beautiful landscape but inflated prices, unfriendly locals, annoying public school kids and "ya" Londoners. And it rains a lot. Went there many years ago for a week in July and sat in a caravan looking out at the rain for most of the week....we were all pleased to get home! Haven't been back since but I'm sure we haven't been missed .

@hibbledibble. I agree. Greater clarity from locals as to whether tourists are welcome or not would be useful. There are plenty of other nice places to visit, both in the UK and (in normal times) abroad.

Still think a second-home tax would be good... the money could go towards building affordable local housing. You take a house away from local people, you should contribute towards building another one.[/quote]
I have no skin in the game because I will never be in the market to buy a second home but, a home can't be 'taken away' from local people - it is sold by, presumably, a local person and it would seem that many of them are happy to sell to the highest bidder.
Perhaps the seller should be taxed to contribute towards replacing the home they have sold to an 'incomer'.

@Mmn654123 I’d love to see these houses? The average salary here is just over £20k.

@HalcyonSea

FWIW I found Simon Reeve’s documentary a pretty sad and slightly bitter view of Cornwall. There are some social issues here but he I felt he could have shown more of the massively exciting industry growing here around geothermal, creative industries, tech, renewable energy etc. There are careers here, for the spirited, hard working and entrepreneurial.

I'm glad you said this. I found this documentary really infantilising. People living in Cornwall can't throw up their hands and say "there are no jobs". It's up to those that live there so start and run the businesses that will thrive there and create more career opportunities for residents, aside from tourism. And many steps in that direction have been made - interestingly, many initiatives were primarily funded by yet more unwelcome outsiders in the form of EU development grants! Clearly that was as well received as the tourists.

I thought Simon Reeve made a change from the "ooh rrr me lovely, we're all rosey-cheeked jolly farmers and fishermen down here, eating pasties and scones and downing it with ciderrr"

And let's think about infrastructure. Cornwall has the Royal Cornwall hospital in Treliske for 24 hour A&E. There's the one in Penzance but refers acute to Treliske. 34 minutes by car but not with heavy traffic.

There are 750 beds - most not acute - spread throughout Cornwall. Oh, and there's the private hospital in Truro but while it offers a good range of treatments they would refer extreme patients back to the NHS.

I was interested in a PP who said they had made a mostly online career in Cornwall that paid well. What is high stream broadband like in Cornwall? I can't understand why the councils aren't pushing - there must be so many businesses and young entrepreneurs who could make a career.