Sympathy for locals outpriced for homes

I WOULD like to comment on a very good letter from Tommy Bray.

Sadly I was unable to get to Cornwall last year due to Covid and out of respect for its citizens, but when I do holiday in Cornwall it is in designated holiday parks.

Just to say I do feel sorry for the Cornish population and their plight at being overrun by second home owners and holiday lets pricing them out of purchasing a home of their own.

This happened decades ago in the countryside, with village cottages being bought up for second homes and people escaping the city making it impossible for people raised in these areas to live there. Cornwall does seem to have quite a lot of housing developments whereas the incomers of rural villages stop housing developments because they wish the villages to stay as they are.

I saw a TV program on Cornish fishermen where they stated they had difficulty buying houses in the fishing communities, and following on from that, on my last holiday in 2019, I – out of curiosity on my visits and walks around coastal villages and towns – took note of all the properties with key safes or holiday let notices, and the numbers were alarming. Some must be ghost towns out of season!!!

I think the remedies to this problem is that these properties should only be sold to locals or full time residents. I was priced out of the village I was brought up in, and after my wife passed away and I wanted to downsize and have a few pounds to support my retirement, I was priced out of the small town I lived in.

N Vizor Swindon