SECOND HOMES

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Burnham Market. Picture by Mister P. Packed even on a wet November morning. Click the thumbnail to make it grow...

Check out the website at http://www.burnhammarket.co.uk

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. There are several houses in the village where I live which are advertised on the web as holiday homes.

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. There is 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. The NEIGHBOURHOOD STATISTICS site is particular useful now for comparing regions (and apparently spying on your neighbours...)

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.

What's your view on 2nd Homes ? Send them in by e-mail and I'll post them here....

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

• Head off NOW to the NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION site. You need to follow the links to a great resource. It's a report published in December 2003 by the NEF which goes by the full title:

"GHOST TOWN BRITAIN: The threat from economic globalisation to livelihoods, liberty and local economic freedom"

The report can be downloaded as a PDF file, which runs to almost 60 pages, including illustrations and evocative photographs.

In some Norfolk villages like Brancaster, affordable homes are now being built for local people, funded with Housing associations. There's a useful article on the problems of people affording homes in the village where they were brought up HERE: 'PRICED OFF OUR PATCH'.

Also found a useful PDF file using the same search which showed the average house price in relation to average earnings. In parts of West Somerset houses cost around 7 times the average income...

Letter in 'The Guardian' - March 2004

"Young working people find that they cannot afford to buy small flats in the home towns while second homes remain empty for much of the year, junk mail piling up and dust settling on the Agas."

Paul Newland, Devon

Letters in 'The Times' - March 2004

Letter from someone living in Burnham Market

"We still have, thankfully a butcher, baker, chemist, newsagent and post office, deli, hardware store, off licence, fishmonger, garage, small supermarket, two hairdressers, two bookshops and two banks as well as a second pub (where you can get fish and chips) to complement the 'gastropub' (which is also a very good boozer). And yes, we do have the clothes shops and so on..."

"Villages must embrace change, doing what they can to provide affordable housing, jobs and facilities for visitors who add vibrancy and cash."

Councils in some areas are now able to charge up to 90% of the normal Council Tax as long as money raised is spent on building affordable houses for local people.

The issue was featured in a very useful programme in the Tonight with Trevor McDonald strand in late April 2006. This featured Salcombe, Padstow (or 'Padstein' as it sometimes styled due to the influence of TV personality Rick Stein), and Ambleside.

For more details on the issue, visit the website of the Association of Second Home Owners.

http://www.associationofsecondhomeowners.co.uk/

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