Cornwall needs to be Forward Looking

I am one of those second home owners. I have worked hard from a normal upbringing and after holidaying in Cornwall for many years, we bought our second home in 2003. It had been on the market for about 18 months. We are there for a few weeks each year but otherwise, I thought I was doing a good thing by renting it out - we bring people into the area and they spend money on local businesses. We employ a local property management company, a local gardener and try and use local services people.

Cornwall has always been very friendly to us. We have read many articles in the papers about Cornwall no longer wanting tourists and even the one in the Sunday Times last week saying that we like tourists but we dislike second home owners.

It would be good to find a way that second home owners can help communities. Obviously we pay council tax - even when we couldn't visit during Covid - but the council should think of ways that we can work together. I think that born and bred Cornish people (as opposed to retirees) have a real point when they want their communities to be active.

Personally, I like the hustle and bustle of Cornwall in the Summer and the hospitality businesses that have grown up and the people that run them are amazing. The nature needs to be nurtured though. We don't want Cornwall to be a deadwater.

We will visit Coral shortly with slight trepidation and fingers crossed.