Second homes are a growing trend. They began to be popular from the 1970's onwards when the increasing disposable income of many people was matched to the growing availability of empty homes in rural areas. It was also aided by improved communications which meant that the holiday retreat could be reached within a few hours of finishing work on Friday afternoon.
Norfolk is one of the areas of the country where there are large numbers of second homes, so much so that the local council is trying to change the law so that they can claim the full council tax from owners. The large number of second homes in some villages means that the council is thousands of pounds down on what they would be able to collect if the occupiers were full time.
Other areas of the country where 2nd Homes are to be found are (obviously mostly attractive rural locations, but within a reasonable distance of conurbations....) the LAKE DISTRICT, YORKSHIRE DALES, CORNWALL, DEVON, DORSET COAST and THE COTSWOLDS.
The BBC news site has covered the issue, and one article tends to link to others, to allow you to research an issue quickly and get pointers to other suitable websites. Try HERE for a useful article. Another two HERE and HERE have more useful material and the issue was also the subject of one of the BBC's TALKING POINTS.
Some National Parks have also taken action, such as EXMOOR.
In the 1970's, there was a period when second homes were targeted by a group calling themselves 'The Sons of Owain Glyndwr', who would (allegedly) burn the houses to the ground. This led to a memorable sketch on the 'Not the Nine O' Clock News' with the tag line: 'Come home to a real fire - buy a cottage in Wales'. I haven't heard of them for some years, so I imagine the situation may have changed. I did a quick search but drew a blank, although it did tell me about the original Owain Glyndwr in the 15th Century, who burnt the houses of families that sided with the English. The CIVIC TRUST on Wales has some materials which may be useful. It's also worth going to the WALES section of news archives and newspaper archives. The article quotes Ellfyn Llwyd who talks about the "gradual erosion of community" and the "dilution of Welsh language and culture"
Some counties have forums where issues such as this are discussed and people are not slow to give their opinions. The CORNWALL 24 forum is one such (thanks to Noel Jenkins for directing me to this..) A recent posting (April 2003) by someone called 'INCOMER' attracted some interesting responses and there are other postings relating to this issue. I will be putting up more material on 2nd Homes as soon as it comes in. A similar forum in the Lake District for the town of KESWICK.
We use an aging BBC programme called 'Village Voices', which looks at the Peak District village of Longnor, between Leek and Buxton. It investigates the general issues of the rural-urban drift of the young, which means that villages are condemned to be largely full of elderly households, which is not a long term strategy for growth.. There are more details on this available by going to the National Statistics site, and downloading Census details for your own area. The figures for Hunstanton and nearby villages on the Norfolk coast are quite revealing when you look at the percentage of over 60's in the population. Although I do play bowls with most of them over the summer months... and watch out now I've got my new woods.
It has to be remembered that some of these homes are also sold for retirement, and I would imagine some people buy second homes with the intention of eventually retiring there. There are some issues with this of course. Retirement means that people will at least frequent some of the local services: perhaps building up the queue in front of Sharon at the post office... or they'll visit the local pub or shop. There will be changing demands placed on the local surgeries, and there will also be a reduction in birth rate. Ultimately, young families are the future of villages, even if the older generation may 'tut' when they see youths on the village field.
An article on this theme was featured in 'The Independent' in February 2003. It had the title: "First moves made in fight to stop the invasion of 2nd home owners"
Second home owners are referred to as 'cuckoos in the nest'. It also mentions the Welsh group called Cymuned (meaning 'Community') -
Go HERE for some details on the group's policy on Holiday homes as outlined in a response to a questionnaire from the University of London. It is in English and Welsh and features some very interesting points relating to 2nd homes. Pembrokeshire is concerned about maintaining the sustainability of communities, particularly the linguistic aspects. The New Forest District Council proposed a policy in its draft local plan where people could only own second homes if they had lived in the area for 7 years.
This was also featured in an article in June 2003 in the Observer. The locals are disappearing for various reasons. I remember being dropped off at a small village in the Yorkshire Wolds in the 1980's on my 'A' level Geography field trip, and asked some local people a questionnaire about local services. When I asked one gentlemen whether his wife was in he said "she's up at the churchyard.." - I looked towards the church and said (innocently - well I was only 17..) - "will she be up there now ?", he said "oh yes, she's dead you see...."
What's your view on 2nd Homes ? Send them in by e-mail and I'll post them here....
| "Personally. very few pros and many cons of second home ownership in rural areas. The main issue in my view is the trend for higher property prices in low income areas impacting on local young people. A related issue is rural-urban drift of young people and the creation of rural food deserts for whole communities (no local shops / public transport" - NJ, London. |
More information on villages at VILLAGE KEY. See below for some of the useful links that this can provide.
A village in the Lakes which is very much changed by tourism is HAWKSHEAD. This has a link with Beatrix Potter. There are some useful materials produced by SIMON TATE. He has some LAKES INFO and some fieldwork in a number of areas. Remember a visit a few years back on a very nice day: the car park is the same size as the village centre..
Burnham Market: 'Chelsea by the Sea' - North Norfolk. Picture by Mister P, who recommends getting to the Hoste Arms early and taking the big round table by the front window and spreading your newspapers over it and settling in for the morning with a pint or two. White van man has landed...
House prices are rising particularly quickly on properties near the seaside. Everyone wants to be beside the seaside apparently. It's partly due to the number of second homes, and partly due to people 'downsizing' to the seaside. All good news for my house... An estate agent in Padstow suggested in a recent article in 'The Sunday Times', that "there must be over 80% second home ownership in this area (central Padstow) now." Other places which were mentioned in the survey of house prices were Pwllheli, Penzance, Sandwich and Brancaster (in North Norfolk)
For many people, a property by the seaside is the ultimate aim. A local landlord in Padstow quoted in the same article is quoted as saying: "Unless we help them (my son and daughter) will have to move away if they want to buy a home, which really saddens me."
In Pwllheli, a group called CYMUNED (see the article on them further up this page) picketed a local estate agent for 26 weeks until they agreed to allow people to market their homes exclusively to people from the local area. There are calls for the Welsh Assembly to intervene.
RURAL ISSUES
For a useful resource on Rural Issues, try the GA Publication from the 'Changing Geography' series: "Countryside Conflicts" by Richard Yarwood. This is a recommended read.
The VILLAGE KEY website has some excellent materials and starting points. It has a COMMUNITY BOARD, and also some details on key issues. These include the following:
Guide on locating rural services is available (PDF format)
Locating phone masts: there have been fears over the microwave radiation these give off, especially when they have been installed near primary schools...
Transport: access to affordable, reliable and safe public transport; Costs of local transport; Greenways and Quiet roads (we have a similar system set up in Norfolk which aims to re-designate roads inland from the coast - some of these are already use by SUSTRANS for their cycle routes, as some of them have grass growing down the middle of the road)
Employment: encouraging small businesses and the possibilities of home-working
Access to local shops: encouraging Post Offices, the 'Pub as the Hub' - a good new trend towards making the pub the centre of the community - also plans to prevent local pubs from being transformed into housing - also a 'Cyber pub' - perhaps shifting the Post Office and local shop (or creche) into the pubs
Sustainable food production, and the development of box schemes for delivery of organic produce and Farmers' markets
Access to information: rural areas being linked up to Broadband, Internet access and Library facilities
Affordable housing: for land-based workers and children of local people - RURAL HOMES - MORE THAN FOR THE WEEKEND
Community facilities: upkeep of church and village halls
Protecting the Heritage - barn conversions
Market Towns Toolkit, New Opportunities Fund, claims for Lottery funding
Traveller accommodation
Service deprivation - high costs of basic foodstuffs e.g in Burnham Market, Norfolk there are more delicatessens than basic food shops.
I remember the Post bus which connects remote communities on the Isle of Skye. I wonder if Nigel still goes back and forth in the Postbus from Glasnakille to Broadford ? Postman Pat has nothing on him...
The Cornwall 24 forum is one of the places where such issues are debated. A recent discussion was about LOW PAY in the area. It brought some rather useful responses.
One recent posting was about Cornwall having low wages. Apparently over 80% of the population earn less than the national average.
One suggestion was to have some sort of charge to enter the county: "if it costs £5 to cross over to Skye, then it must be worth a couple of quid to get into Kernow"
One response to this on the forum was:
"I'm not sure that increasing tourism solves any problems...it depends on where the money goes once it's spent (due to national chains) OK, so they provide employment but even that money goes back into England as soon as it's spent."
"People (in France, Spain and Germany) have pride in their country or region and even international supermarket chains have to bow to local preference."
"When was the last time that anyone even raised an eyebrow because the best selling Cornish pastie is made in Evesham, Worcestershire"
"The Cornish should assert themselves and buy Cornish"
Worth checking out..
LESSON MATERIALS
Follow the link to the BBC's TALKING POINT above, to see a range of people's comments on 2nd homes. These can be appended to clip art of people in a speech bubble to turn into 'talking heads'. There has been a trend for councils to move towards charging more like the full amount for Council tax for second home owners.
Paul Renouf of AMBLESIDE ONLINE has also posted some useful materials on 2nd homes in the Lake District. He has posted 'An essay from within the Lake District' on the phenomenon
