Rejected opportunity to control second homes
North Cornwall’s MP, Dan Rogerson, says both the Government and the Conservative Party have rejected a ‘golden opportunity’ to tackle Cornwall’s second homes crisis.
The local Liberal Democrat MP proposed a new section for the Government’s Planning Bill, which would have allowed local authorities to demand new powers to control the number of second homes in their area.
Conservative MPs refused to comment on the proposals and declined to support them when Mr Rogerson moved a House of Commons vote. The Government used its majority to vote down the proposal while the Minister responding, Parmjit Dhanda, called first and second homes ‘indistinguishable’ and dismissed the move as ‘irrelevant’.
Commenting, Mr Rogerson said:
“The Government’s position seems completely unsusceptible to argument or common sense.
“My proposal would have allowed local authorities to work with the Secretary of State to bring forward measures to tackle the proliferation of second homes in rural areas but Ministers just aren’t interested.
“More striking still was the Conservatives’ approach, which was to remain completely silent, and cower in the corner when asked to vote on this.
“On the one hand, they claim to be the party of rural Britain; on the other hand, their MPs simply won’t stand up for the communities whose very existence is threatened by the unchecked growth of second homes.
“The London Conservative Party still seems content that whole villages should find themselves saturated with housing which serves no useful purpose during the weekdays and the winters. And all while Cornwall, along with much of the rest of rural Britain, suffers a continuing, acute affordable housing crisis.”
