Simon Reeve in Cornwall

[Alwaysworryingoversomething]

Anyone else watch this this evening?

Apart from his general loveliness it was a good programme but very depressing.

He caught up with some people he met a couple of years ago and things have clearly got a lot worse.

Felt awful for the family living in the hotel in Newquay with three children.
She seemed to be struggling a lot more at the end of the programme.

Can't believe what's happening in this country really.

I watched some of it and agree it was throughly depressing. I feel so sad about what’s happening in this country including people literally dying as they can’t be seen in the NHS. I felt so helpless tonight and hope the Tory’s lose the next election. I know Labour aren’t perfect but they can’t be as bad as the awful people in government at the moment.

I'm from Cornwall and it was a very measured account. Families are being offered accommodation in Wales as there is nothing else available. I do think that the council at least recognises the scale of the problem and is trying to do something.

They'll still vote Tory though.

Very sad to watch. If we can’t provide affordable housing for real people doing necessary but unglamorous jobs, society is doomed. Ethan though was a bright moment in a very depressing watch.

His smile!

There are companies doing great things, but there are no homes.

It's really difficult though. We had a family home which we rented out to an elderly lady until she went into a care home. My parents are in their 80s, so we put the property on the market, because they were finding it too stressful and needed to access some of the capital for their own care. So many people expressed an interest in buying it from up country, swearing that they would move to Cornwall to live there. We ended up selling it to someone local, but it's definitely tempting to hold your nose & sell to the highest bidder.

it was depressing,
those one bedroom flats might at least have been two
did no one live in them?
and there have been tourists in cornwall for years, it is surely the main industry, so you cant blame people for letting their houses out for big money?
interesting about the cauliflower pickers.
i agree, it was measured

I think those one bedroom homes were new so no one had moved in yet.
The man from Cornwall council did say that they were hoping to build some family sized homes too.

I agree that Cornwall relies on tourism. Ideally it would be able to move away from relying on it so heavily as it doesn't provide enough permanent jobs for the people living there.
However, the housing situation is impossible for many people who were born and brought up there, unless they are from wealthy backgrounds.
People coming from all over the UK to buy second homes and then putting them on Air BnB or leaving them empty for months at a time is crippling the areas housing offer.

Much as I'm a fan of AirBNB I'm surprised that more moves haven't been made to stop people being able to short term rent properties in areas that are desperate for housing. Nowhere 'needs' short term rentals, there are hotels for that, but so many places are desperate for long term rentals.

As long as the provision exists where "communities" i.e NIMBYs have the power to say no to affordable homes development then this problem will continue. That green field above Mousehole for example. They always bleat on about it "oh we need affordable housing for sure but this isn't the right location" when they just mean they don't want families with children and lower incomes than them in their vicinity. That's not why they moved to Cornwall, thank you very much.

absolutely @WestwardHo1

I went across to Padstow last week. A 3 bed terraced house was on the market for £745,000. It wasn't a character cottage, just a family home on the outskirts of the town. Nobody can afford to buy that to rent to local families when visitors will pay up to £2k a week in peak season. Local families can't afford to buy when their household income is likely to be £50-£60k tops.

I was very saddened by the situation the family were in in the hotel. I noticed too the Mum seemed really down at the end, and who wouldn't she.

The men from Tajikistan were by my reckoning earning £700 a week (didn't the business owner say they can earn upto £100 a day?)

He employed twenty odd British people during the pandemic and quickly only had one British person left?

We simply don't have the same work ethic.

the cauliflower pickers can work many hours per day, so i think the work wasnt really suited for people with family's, was his excuse.
although surely we have labourers in this country who do similar shifts?

I said to my dad when watching, years ago families would have been picking, or kids would have been there in the fields while parents picked. Wouldn't (rightly) be acceptable now, and it's not the sort of job you can get childcare for easily.

The money they make is a fortune back home. That is their incentive. The young man was able to buy 2 houses in his home country with the savings. The money and practicalities are not attractive to UK residents:

After tax that is not a lot of money in an expensive housing area like Cornwall.

They were living 2 to a bed in overcrowded caravans. They had to travel and live in several farms and work 7 day weeks. That is not possible for families with small children, schools, etc.

It’s seasonal work. It’s also suited to young people as it’s backbreaking.

I think a lot of the people on the programme would be better off leaving Cornwall and moving up country to where the work is. I understand of course that they don’t want to leave, heritage, family, the beauty. But there is nothing for them there other than a very bleak future.

but my point above is that dont people, men, still labour, get picked up and go on labouring jobs, arent they they long hours?
and not family friendly? what does that mean?
is it because its seasonal?
is it because of the caravan situation?

Not family friendly as you’d need both parents doing that job to bring in enough income for living (rent etc). Who would do childcare. Single men might consider it but there are jobs paying similar with better conditions. The work is seasonal so suits migrant workers- who can go home in between and live well on the earnings in their own countries.

Men getting picked up for labouring jobs are often migrants as the work is temporary. But it’s year round so will appeal more to UK residents.

The food bank/support volunteer said on the programme that most people needing help were working full time, often both parents working. The wages don’t cover the high cost of living and many jobs are low skilled=poor pay.