At a recent meeting with Grant Shapps, the Shadow Housing Minister, we discussed our proposals to give residents of communities the power to grant planning permission to build affordable houses for local people. He was very interested in the unique problems that West Cornwall has and said that his solutions could help us a great deal.
A number of villages across West Cornwall are suffering from a lack of year round residents. No-one wants villages which only thrive in the holiday season, Cornwall needs active communities and local families need homes. Rather than merely attack those who have second homes in these communities, I want to be able to provide alternatives for local families to tackle the acute shortage of ‘local-need’ homes. In our recent meeting, Grant Shapps outlined sensible and sustainable solutions for Cornwall's communities.
West Cornwall has one of the highest proportions of second homes in the UK; in some Parishes around 20% of houses are second homes. The National Housing Federation’s “South West Home Truths’ Report released last week, shows that the average Cornish house is now 12.4 times the average Cornish income.
Under plans to be outlined by Grant Shapps in the Communities Green Paper later this month, local communities will be given the power to hold parish-level referenda to decide whether to increase the size of their village. Under the proposals, community groups would be able to bypass councils and organise their own construction programmes. Villages could expand by up to 10% over 10 years and there would be financial incentives to encourage more building.
If there is overwhelming support for housebuilding, they will be able to go ahead. “Lack of affordable housing in areas like West Cornwall is a real problem, forcing people out of the places where they have grown up,” said Grant Shapps MP. “Under our plans, Cornish communities can really be in charge of their own destiny.” Grant added that alternative ideas, such as heavy taxes on second homes, were the “wrong approach”.
This is an excellent idea to provide local families with homes in West Cornwall. Rather than merely talking about a problem, the Conservative Party are providing sensible solutions, decided at local level, to meet local needs. I am looking forward to working with Grant to establish a plan of action to tackle the acute shortage of local homes in West Cornwall.
