Tourism & Housing
From Dr Bernard Deacon, Cornish academic, researcher and author (amongst many other things!):
"Cornwall Council likes to big up the number of 'affordable' houses being built. Yet last year just 10 houses were built for social rent. For every such property, 133 unaffordable houses are built, 44% of which are sold to people outside Cornwall."Kernow Matters To You
Cornwall is known for its world famous beaches, beautiful countryside, ancient sites, and places of historical interest. We love to see people from all over visit our lovely country.
If you ask many people what percentage of Cornwall's income comes from tourism, most would say anything from 50-70%. In fact it is more like 12-15%. our main industry is agriculture, fishing and related industries.
The Director of Visit Cornwall, the privatised and members only tourism promotion company, Malcolm Bell revealed as much in a recent Financial Times article published in June 2021. We have other sources from the Cornish Social and Economic Research Group that back this up.
When the Pandemic hit in 2020 tourists by and large stayed away. When regulations allowed the flooded into Cornwall. Cornwall's R rating went from one of the lowest in the Uk to one of the highest. At the end of 2020 our rates went back down again.
The the 2021 summer season arrived.
Due to confusing Government advice the hordes that usually went abroad came to Cornwall. Our outdated road were chock-a-block. Our beaches, villages, towns and countryside became impassible. The single hospital we have, usually at full black alert, went into total meltdown. Ambulances queued outside A+E unable to unload patients or answer 999 calls.
The Cornish tried to raise the matter with the media. Sadly it went against the twee cute narrative the press like to portray, so it was ignored. Many of the national press touted Cornwall as THE place to be in 2021. This triggered a rush of house buying by 'upcountry' people, driving up prices well beyond the finances of locals.
If you ask many people what percentage of Cornwall's income comes from tourism, most would say anything from 50-70%. In fact it is more like 12-15%. our main industry is agriculture, fishing and related industries.
The Director of Visit Cornwall, the privatised and members only tourism promotion company, Malcolm Bell revealed as much in a recent Financial Times article published in June 2021. We have other sources from the Cornish Social and Economic Research Group that back this up.
When the Pandemic hit in 2020 tourists by and large stayed away. When regulations allowed the flooded into Cornwall. Cornwall's R rating went from one of the lowest in the Uk to one of the highest. At the end of 2020 our rates went back down again.
The the 2021 summer season arrived.
Due to confusing Government advice the hordes that usually went abroad came to Cornwall. Our outdated road were chock-a-block. Our beaches, villages, towns and countryside became impassible. The single hospital we have, usually at full black alert, went into total meltdown. Ambulances queued outside A+E unable to unload patients or answer 999 calls.
The Cornish tried to raise the matter with the media. Sadly it went against the twee cute narrative the press like to portray, so it was ignored. Many of the national press touted Cornwall as THE place to be in 2021. This triggered a rush of house buying by 'upcountry' people, driving up prices well beyond the finances of locals.
Cornwall's housing has reached tipping point
In 2020, the median annual salary in Cornwall was £27,223, whilst the median house price was £236,000 – meaning people need more than 9 times their salary in order to purchase a home. And even then, this median includes Cornwall’s top earners – most of us do not even make the median salary, many are in precarious employment of around £18k-20k, making the goal of being able to rent or buy a home near impossible.
Cornwall has replaced London as the number one place people are looking up on Rightmove – and approximately a fifth of new residents in Cornwall originate from London, massively driving up rental and mortgage prices even further. 44% of house buyers in Cornwall in 2021 came from outside of Cornwall.
In June 2021, Cornwall had more than 10,290 active AirBnB listings across the county, whilst there were only 69 rental properties available on Rightmove. As of 31 July 2021, that number has dropped to 41. For example, in Newquay as of 31st July 2021, there are 4 properties available to rent on Rightmove. The lowest costing one of these is £925pcm, and the highest £1,200pcm.
There are over 16,000 people looking for council housing in Cornwall, and the average wait time to find a home is months to years.
This comes after it had already been revealed dozens upon dozens of former council homes are being illegally let as student accommodation and AirBnBs for the sake of profit, keeping these properties extremely high in rent and inaccessible to the people who need them. £133m of Cornwall’s Covid-Aid was given out to second home/holiday let owners since the first lockdown, and around half of the people who received this money are registered at addresses outside of Cornwall.
We cannot live like this any longer, and we won’t accept growing mass homelessness of people in Cornwall and ever-expanding house prices becoming an accepted part of life. We demand action, we demand change, we demand dignity. We are not just bartenders, ice-cream servers, and lifeguards, we are people who deserve to be able to rent and buy where we live.
We deserve affordable housing and rental properties. Cornwall is not a playground, it is not just a tourist-hot-spot and nice place to live by the beach if you have the cash for it – it’s our home, it’s our culture, our family, friends, livelihoods – and we can’t even afford to live here.
No more second homes. No more exorbitant rents. No more holiday lets over council homes. Enough is enough. Cornwall Council building cabins is not enough, and does absolutely nothing to address the roots and growing catastrophe of this crisis.
Cornwall has replaced London as the number one place people are looking up on Rightmove – and approximately a fifth of new residents in Cornwall originate from London, massively driving up rental and mortgage prices even further. 44% of house buyers in Cornwall in 2021 came from outside of Cornwall.
In June 2021, Cornwall had more than 10,290 active AirBnB listings across the county, whilst there were only 69 rental properties available on Rightmove. As of 31 July 2021, that number has dropped to 41. For example, in Newquay as of 31st July 2021, there are 4 properties available to rent on Rightmove. The lowest costing one of these is £925pcm, and the highest £1,200pcm.
There are over 16,000 people looking for council housing in Cornwall, and the average wait time to find a home is months to years.
This comes after it had already been revealed dozens upon dozens of former council homes are being illegally let as student accommodation and AirBnBs for the sake of profit, keeping these properties extremely high in rent and inaccessible to the people who need them. £133m of Cornwall’s Covid-Aid was given out to second home/holiday let owners since the first lockdown, and around half of the people who received this money are registered at addresses outside of Cornwall.
We cannot live like this any longer, and we won’t accept growing mass homelessness of people in Cornwall and ever-expanding house prices becoming an accepted part of life. We demand action, we demand change, we demand dignity. We are not just bartenders, ice-cream servers, and lifeguards, we are people who deserve to be able to rent and buy where we live.
We deserve affordable housing and rental properties. Cornwall is not a playground, it is not just a tourist-hot-spot and nice place to live by the beach if you have the cash for it – it’s our home, it’s our culture, our family, friends, livelihoods – and we can’t even afford to live here.
No more second homes. No more exorbitant rents. No more holiday lets over council homes. Enough is enough. Cornwall Council building cabins is not enough, and does absolutely nothing to address the roots and growing catastrophe of this crisis.