2nd home voters; a lot of fuss about nothing.

pic from http://www.cornwallcoserg.org.uk/
a once residential street lies empty

Cornwall Council has decided to strike off second home owners from the electoral register. Headlines, praise and criticism include Cornwall second home owners banned from voting, Take your vote home with you, No taxation without representation. This is a welcome move, it is an unacceptable situation when ordinary Cornish people who live and work in the community they are part of have as much say as some rich person from London who spends a few weeks there a year. One person one vote, ought to be the principle adhered to, it is fundamentally undemocratic and unfair that people who own second homes get to potentially vote multiple times where they live and where they own a holiday home. That said this is no big deal, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are busy telling everyone that they have made Cornwall more democratic or fairer but this is at best a half truth.

Cornwall Council's actions actually mean very little, existing legislation means that it is illegal to vote in a general election or referendum twice. As to local elections the legislation forbids voting from a non-residential property as the Electoral Commision website explains.

A person’s name may appear on the electoral register only if they reside at an address within the electoral area. Residence is not defined in law, but it has been held by the courts to entail a ‘considerable degree of permanence’. Based on this criteria, it is possible for a person to be registered to vote in two different electoral areas. A person with two homes who spends about the same amount of time in each can be lawfully registered at both addresses.

However, it is unlikely that ownership of a second home that is used only for recreational purposes would meet the residency qualification. Ownership of a second home that a voter pays council tax on but is not resident in does not qualify them for electoral registration in that area. It is for the local Electoral Registration Officer to decide in the light of an individual voter's circumstances whether they may be said to be resident at an address, and therefore eligible for registration. Electoral Registration Officers are required to consider each case on its own merits.

If an elector is registered to vote in two different electoral areas, they are eligible to vote in local elections for the two different local councils. However, it is an offence to vote twice in any one election. Such an offence could result in a fine of up to £5,000.

I have two homes can I register at both addresses?

It's not an exact way of doing it but removing all people claiming a second home discount from the voting register (or not sending poll cards) is within existing legislation and would remove most of the 2nd home voters. That is to say that by using the law which prohibits voting twice in a general election and using the law to prohibit non residents voting the same result could be achieved. So in effect the Conservative- Independent coalition on Cornwall Council could have used these rules to make sure second home voters didn't vote in last years general election. Similarly the last Liberal Democrat administration on the old County Council could have done the same thing. Neither actually did anything when it mattered, why?

This issue is a lot of fuss about something important, but it's a fuss about nothing actually because the rules already are in place to stop people voting twice and in non-residential households. What is actually lacking by both this Tory-Indy administration on Cornwall Council and the last Lib Dem administration is the political will to enforce the rules.  Hopefully the current administration will enforce the rules and prosecute those that break the law.

So is Cornwall banning second home owners from voting? no existing Westminster legislation already does this.

Cornwall and the blight of second homes

Second homes are a real blight on communities across Cornwall as elsewhere, housing stock lies idle for the vast majority of the year and as a consequence that community dies one empty property at a time. Without full times residents, villages and towns with second homes soon turn into ghost towns, when there is no one there year round to shop in the post office, drink in the pub, and attend the schools and churches/ chapels these facilities soon close. There is need of them, these symbols of the community become redundant and soon too does the community itself and it just becomes an empty cluster of houses, devoid of life and absent in function save for a few weekends a year. This has a wider impact, when the amount of residents becomes fewer and fewer, the need for a bus service lessens and will eventually drop completely effecting nearby communities on the bus route too. In the community itself assets are stripped as they become redundant and save for the odd workman that has to come by once in a while and do some maintenance that village soon becomes economically stagnant, fewer people work there and fewer people have money to spend there.

Padstow.

Obviously the much wider problem is that of artificially inflating house prices, second home buyers increase demand which increases the price. So the fashionable weekend retreats such as Rock, Fowey, Helford, Mousehole start to have higher and higher house prices. As a consequence local people that want to live in these places become less and less able too, combined with the decay brought on by empty non-residential properties, there are less jobs as well. Without being able to earn a living there or afford a house they then move somewhere else. This has been evident in Cornwall through the last decade or so, whereby house prices in inland (less desirable to moneyed urbanites) have started to increase with the demand from people displaced from the 'rural idylls'. In effect the problem like a virus has spread, started in coastal and rural communities now encompassing Cornwall. Take for example my street in Penzance (St James street), small houses (mostly 2 bedroom) built around 1900, no parking, no gardens, hardly prime properties by anyone's standard. According to the website www.email4property.co.uk the average sale price on this street in 2000 was £57,000, 2001: £66,161, 2002: £77,322, 2003: £116,500, 2004: £119,400, 2005: £152,475, 2006: £142,750, 2007: £149,250, 2008: £164,000, 2009: £143,916, 2010 £141,600. So to buy my house in 2000 was £57,000 now £141,600 (link to the page), more than double what it was ten years ago, yet wages have not doubled and it is impossible to comprehend these rises without looking at factors such as second homes. Even with the recent recession and fall in employment and stagnation in wages, house prices have not significantly dropped. The demand has increased largely due to second homes, estimates on the number of second homes in Cornwall vary between 6% and 10%, Cornwall Council figures suggest there are 14,000 second homes in Cornwall. Compared to the number of people on housing registers in Cornwall 18,000 we start to uncover why we have such a housing problem in Cornwall.

So what can we do about 2nd homes in Cornwall?

Abolish second home discounts:
Cornish councillors recently unanimously backed a motion to abolish the council tax discount for second homes, currently they pay 90%. Not that long ago it was 50%, based on the idea that the house used less services as vacant, partly true but I am sure nobody would want their house being burgled or burning down and half or 90% of the usual police force or fire brigade turning up. I think the idea is that the council will make more money from these properties and will serve as a deterrent to second home buyers. Although I doubt it will, if you have say between three hundred thousand pounds and 2 million to spend on a house used occasionally, then a couple hundred quid a month would be like a drop of water in the Atlantic.

Stop second home owners pretending to run their houses as a business:
At the end of the last Labour government, they did float the idea of tightening up the rules of what constituted a business and presumably dropped it after middle England read about it. At the moment you can in effect pretend that a 2nd home is a business, taking advantage of various rate relief schemes designed to help bed and breakfasts etc. So you could buy a nice house in Polzeath rent it out once or twice to friends, then purport to be a loss making business and in effect get the taxpayer to subsidise your weekend retreat. I think this should be tightened up upon, I do think it's fair that genuine businesses can claim rate relief if they run at a loss and/ or to encourage them to invest in assets. As with everything tax, a decent accountant can find a workaround, so solving the problem would be difficult and ultimately this is just a nice sideline and wouldn't stop the ultra-rich buying a second home.

Ban new second homes when 5% of that area is already non-residential
This idea comes from Dick Cole, leader of Mebyon Kernow in his own words:

We need far-reaching reforms to the planning system and the introduction of controls to reverse both the spread and number of second homes. Planning permission should be needed before homes can be turned into part-time residences, so that councillors have the ability to say no.

Mebyon Kernow believes that if more than 5% of the housing stock in a particular settlement and/or parish are second homes, there should also be an automatic ban on any new ones. And in such areas, properties used as second homes coming onto the market should only be allowed to be sold for use as permanent dwellings.

http://mebyonkernow.blogspot.com/2011/07/action-on-second-homes.html
I think this is a good idea, for too long councils in Cornwall have stood idly by whilst second homes have multiplied in our communities. They need to start representing the people of Cornwall better, there is very little appetite here in Cornwall for second homes, democratically Cornwall Council should reflect this and take action.

Change in attitudes:
Above are listed many reasons why outsiders but holiday homes in Kernow, but the problem is not just of outsiders. Keen for money, many Cornish people have sold their houses in the knowledge that it will go to a second home owner. So too Cornish estate agents are more than willing to encourage 2nd home ownership, what's the point of selling to a local family on minimum wage when  a lot of money can be made from rich up country folk? I do not think either position is socially responsible, I understand the desire for money (I'd own my own house if I was rich) but at what cost is this profiteering to the people of Cornwall?

The reason I was spurned to write this blogpost today was after reading an article in the Independent link here, which really surprised me. I naively though that this left wing paper would champion social responsibility and the plight of the common man. But no true to the form of many champagne socialists they have written a long piece on the virtue of holiday home ownership in Cornwall, the benefits of the 'riveria' retreat and the investment opportunities etc. These are also attitudes that need confronting, it is quite common for lot's of London newspapers to market Cornish homes as if they were stocks and share or permanent hotel rooms with no though to the consequence to the people that actually live here.

Both internally and externally we need to change attitudes to second home ownership, both to bolster support for abolition of the council tax discount and introducing change of use in the planning system. But also to encourage people not to do it, to show outsiders that we have lots of lovely hotels in Cornwall and there are alternatives to buying a large house for occasional use. To convince house sellers that it is better for Cornwall, the Cornish economy and communities to not sell to people who want second homes. To convince estate agents that selling to local who needs a house is better for our economy and as a consequence the property business. I think we could introduce a bold policy decisions to second homes, Cornwall Council could in theory issue compulsory purchase orders for second homes and effectively turf people out. But I do not think this would be a good thing to do, I do not believe that the state should have these sort of powers, so we must concentrate on persuasion.

I am convinced that second homes are definitely a bad thing, I think there are legislative solutions to ease the problems which are already being proposed, but I am not sure this is enough. What we need is a change in attitudes , I am not sure how we can do this? any suggestions leave them below....

a Cornish tourist tax, a great idea

One of the senior officers at Cornwall Council Tom Flanagan has created something of a stir by suggesting a tourist tax at a committe in Westminster. In his own words he explains:

“Cornwall has 26 million visitor nights per year. If you put £1 per head per bed that could raise £26 million which could go into investment. These are funding opportunities for Cornwall if we are given the freedom."

Now there is some controversy that this has come from an officer rather than a councillor and it probably wasn't the most astute move talking about it in Westminster before councillors had discussed it. It does highlight the concern of people in Cornwall that the officers run the show at Lys Kernow, this needs to be addressed (another day perhaps).  But that said, the idea of a tourist tax has been kicking around for years, I've no doubt that councillors have discussed it before and are more than aware of the arguments. So let's for a second consider the idea.

The costs of tourism

Cornwall has a large number of visitors every year, they place a strain on all of our services. They contribute to the wear and tear of our roads, they use our hospitals, need our police force and need our lifeguards. In a fiscal sense the Cornish taxpayer is responsible for maintaining vital aspects of the tourist industry. In a very real sense, we suffer because our roads are busy in the summer it takes longer to drive anywhere, our towns are busier with holiday makers. Also the council pays a great deal to support the tourist industry, funding the the Cornwall tourism board not to mention the loss making Newquay Airport. Also the prominence of the tourist trade encourages holiday home ownership which artficially inflates house prices and provides a real problem of empty homes in our communities making villages less viable.

Now there is a positive benefit to the Cornish economy many businesses and bed and breakfast owners have grown very rich from the tourist trade. Of this there is no doubt and all power to them. But the fact remains that the burden of supporting the tourist trade and the infrastructure it demands falls on everyone, not just the minority who earn a living from tourism. Let's not forget that people love coming to Cornwall and wouldn't begrudge or even notice a small increase in their bills.

Implementation

I have some doubts as to how a tourist tax would be introduced and quite how it would work. A pound per person per night sounds simple enough but enforcement of this would be complicated. Would every campsite/ hotel/ bed and breakfast/ holiday cottage have to be registered? how would this system be monitored? As an alternative I believe a much simpler system would be to proportonally raise the rates of tourism businesses. With larger businesses such as large hotels and camp sites paying more than smaller hotels and bed and breakfasts. I believe this would have the same result as a pound tourist tax but would be much simpler and would be more progressive and fairer on smaller businesses. It also would be administratively much simpler.

Let's put this one to bed

By the by Tom Flanagan also explained that Cornwall Council could eliminate the council tax discount for second home owners, my only comment, are we still having this conversation? everyone should pay the same council tax.