The question put to all candidates in this general election is:
“The cost of housing - whether it is renting or buying - is becoming out of reach for a vast number of people in Cornwall – what can be done to solve this pressing problem?”
My answer (within a strict 200 word limit) is as follows:
Housing is a huge issue for people in
Cornwall, most people of my generation struggle with high prices of both
renting and buying, coupled with low wages, it’s a perfect storm, forcing
people out of Cornwall. Yet thousands of
houses are being built, unaffordable to the majority of the local population
and even those supposedly affordable are fair higher than the average wage can
afford. Second homes are ever increasing and thus further increasing demand and
prices. The current Labour, Tory and Lib Dem doctrine is developer led
resulting in a building boom swallowing up green fields and not addressing our
pressing problems of lack of affordability.
This is why I am delighted that this
week that my party Mebyon Kernow has called upon planning to be devolved to
Cornwall, the ‘Westminster knows best’ one size fits all approach of central
government is not working here. The problem of affordability has not been
resolved by successive governments and has in fact got much worse. The time has
come for a fresh approach to housing in Cornwall. Empowering us to look at new
ways of funding and delivering housing that the people of Cornwall both want
and can afford.
Dick Cole's recent piece on Cornwall taking control of planning is here
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