Let’s elect those who will put Cornwall first

SO Padstow town council wants to follow St Ives in banning the sale of properties for second homes? Good for them, but shouldn’t there be a national law banning this practice anyway?

Can you believe there are over 37,000 second home owners in Devon and Cornwall? I can! You only have to go to pretty little hamlets and villages like down the Lizard and towns like St Ives in the winter where you could fire a gun and wouldn’t hit anybody. What a smack in the face to local young folk who can’t afford one dwelling let alone two or sometimes multiple second homes. A ban, yes, but how about also doubling or tripling their council tax contribution? Planners don’t help! Look at the totally out of character monstrosities being built all over our beautiful Cornwall! They fob us off with a small percent for first time owners and sign 106 agreements that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on, which big developers wriggle out of after a period of time... seen it, been there, done it! At districts like Kerrier we had more control, more say. Now, with the remoteness of a county administration with a high proportion of non-Cornish councillors, the future looks even worse. When the elections come up in May, please use your vote wisely to elect people who put Cornwall and its inhabitants first.

Tommy Bray Four Lanes, Redruth, Cornwall