Cornish must share blame for second homes and high prices

The Scots are also obsessed with their own referendum as they look, again, to cut ties with their nearest neighbours. I have often wondered, fleetingly, with both situations, if the results had been reversed in 2016 and 2014 respectively, would we be calling for a further referendum to reverse those decisions, but I doubt it.

Beyond the macro, some of our obsessions are more local in nature. My great obsession at present is a squeaking sound emanating from my bike. Having been through a gallon and a half of lube over the previous month, the sound is getting worse, and I get lots of funny looks as I steam at less than breakneck speed through the mean streets of Hertfordshire as a high pitch squeal emits leaving bystanders believing that Joe Pasquale is in the vicinity.

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And then we have my old, dear friends ‘the Cornish’. Full disclosure: I am married to a Cornish woman and have traversed the Tamar numerous times annually for a quarter century. I have witnessed the changes, many of them for the worst, and I often find myself whingeing about emits (tourists) despite being classed among their number.

Their obsession is, and was, that very thing: tourists, and I get the quandary. They bring much-needed revenue to a part of the country whose beauty hides a multitude of sins. There is a huge shortage of well-paid jobs and, to be blunt, the Cornish are being priced out due to the obsession of townies from up country with buying second, third and even fourth homes.

As a people however, the obsession, fuelled solely by the website ‘Cornwall live’ is currently second homeowners. In Porthleven, a quaint fishing harbour on the south coast, a walk around the quay is tinged by sadness in the winter. 90% of the lights remain out in the houses, the pubs are near deserted, and the welcome is noticeably warmer from the locals who view my touristness with differing eyes should we choose to go down in the murky depths of the year end.

Porthleven - in the winter up to 90 per cent of lights go out as the houses are second homes. Photo: Pixabay

But I feel for them, despite disagreeing with much of the rhetoric. There is talk of ‘banning’ the sale of second homes. Sadly, I believe they are missing the bigger picture as surely its governments ineptitude that has led folk to not trusting the banking and pension systems, and understandably therefore many using bricks and mortar as their pension pots.

Of course, with lowly skilled labour being the order of the day in rural communities, the locals spit venom at the incomers, yet is this situation any different to what is going on in London and has been for many a decade? With so many people needing a roof over their head, with popularity comes huge demand, but a lack of supply and market forces dictate therefore that prices rise. Londoners, if such a thing still exists, are therefore forced to move to the shires and the same rampant price hikes continue here as there. It is a victim of its own making and cannot be solely placed at the incomer’s door.

Cornish greed has a part to play. Back ‘in the day’ prices were affordable until they collectively went premium. Now it’s all ‘locally sourced’ and ‘line caught’ with a zero on the price tag. And so, as a new breed of affluent tourist started to arrive, not to visit the local greasy spoon but to sample the delights of Rick Stein's seafood as the Cornish began looking outwardly for someone to blame.

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Councils are now talking about 300% discriminatory pricing increases of council tax for incomers. Can you imagine that situation if anyone dared suggest that for London? And what about Cornish property magnates who have made millions from the rampant property increases? Could they not have put need over greed and insisted local homes for local people, or enter some kind of part buy, part rent scheme as they made a roof over the heads of the Cornish truly affordable?

Sadly, it seems as if there is no golden bullet, and this problem will rumble. Despite not being a second homeowner, but an emmet, I will no doubt be classed as part of the problem: the cause of the Kernow kids having to move up country, of not continuing Cornish traditions such as working the land and so on, as eventually we are pilloried to the point of being spat on in the street. But maybe, just maybe, the Cornish will belatedly realise they’re as much to blame as anyone as they pine for the halcyon days of yore….

• Brett Ellis is a teacher