Residents in St Ives to vote on restrictions for second home ownership

Residents in the picturesque Cornish port of St Ives will go to the polls next month in a referendum on restricting second home ownership.

They will be voting on a new town plan which includes a promise to restrict second home ownership in new developments in St Ives and Carbis Bay.

New housing projects would only get planning permission on condition that the homes are reserved for people to live in full-time.

While out-of-towners will still be able to buy second-hand houses as second homes or holiday lets, all new property will be reserved for local residents.

Supporters of the restriction argue that local people are priced out of owning a home because of rising property values, which they attribute to the increase in second homes

In Cornwall the unemployment rate is 5% and many people work in seasonal low-paid jobs in the tourism industry and are unable to afford rising prices.

St Ives Town Council says 25% of residential properties in 2011 were classed as second homes - a 67% increase from 2001. This puts St Ives and Carbis Bay among the top five areas for second homes and holiday lets in Cornwall.

Should St Ives's 12,000 residents vote yes, then the town will follow Lynton and Lynmouth in Devon which has already stopped the development of new second homes in its neighbourhood plan.

Tim Andrewes, a member of the town council and Cornwall Council, backed the primary residence policy.

He said: "It is going to make a contribution towards that bigger housing problem and I am not pretending that on its own it is going to be that silver bullet. It is a very positive step forward.

"It doesn't affect the existing housing stock and some people have got the wrong end of the stick that it is about evicting existing second home owners and it wouldn't affect them at all."

St Ives mayor Linda Taylor acknowledged the value second home owners and tourists bring to the town.

"Second home owners contribute immensely to the economy of St Ives and St Ives would not be where it is without the holidaymaker and the second home owner," she said.

"I think the principle of trying to do something about housing sits favourably with a lot of people.

"From all the telephone calls and emails I have had, a lot of people are looking at this referendum because they have the same sort of issues."

Steve McTeare's architectural practice has worked on several developments in St Ives and is against the plan because he says it will not solve the problem.

"Should the neighbourhood plan ever get through, it will have the total opposite effect to that which the promotors of it have in mind," he said.

"It will stagnate new housing delivery and force the existing housing stock up even higher, placing ever more pressure on first-time buyers and affordable housing.

"Fundamentally, a policy that restricts new development being used for holiday accommodation in a town that is 90% reliant on such an industry is denying the future generations of the town any hope of employment and will send out the totally wrong message to visitors.

"With such onerous restrictions on housing use, any new development will come to a complete standstill as it makes no economic sense to do so.

"The majority of local business and people will acknowledge there is a housing affordability gap, however forcing a 'primary residence policy' on use is only going to exacerbate the problem."

Former St Ives MP Andrew George wanted to go further and introduce an Affordable Homes Bill with a planning cap on existing homes, rather than just new developments.

"I am in support of the neighbourhood plan. I think there is pretty broad support for it and I hope it gets through," he said.

"What we don't know is whether it even got through it would not come under attack and be legally challenged.

"There is an enormous need for affordable housing in Cornwall. In St Ives there is an area known as Downalong that is close to the harbour and in the last 25 years there was a living Cornish community down there and now it is completely decimated," he said.

"You see the occasional local family living down there but in the main the old streets of fishermen and their families have been turned into holiday lets.

"It has completely changed the local community. For the people of St Ives it is not the politics of envy but it is the politics of justice and also trying to help people who are genuinely in need."