Normally i wouldn't be writing in support of second homes; when you are aware of some towns and villages around the coast of Devon and Cornwall having 50% plus second homes you have to say "this is just too much". Yes I can understand the well off wanting a second home in Devon or Cornwall but there are good reasons to limit their numbers which I'll blog about another time.

However here is a little story that shows it's not all bad regarding second homes... I should explain that our village is well away from the coast of Cornwall (as much as anywhere in Cornwall can be far from the coast) and that the number of second homes here is minimal. Just over a week ago we had some flooding in the village following an evening of torrential rain. Fortunately our little terrace of cottages escaped unscathed. A few days after the event I was in the main street and crossed the road to speak to a lady aquaintance who I knew lived in a slightly vulnerable location "out in the sticks". Pleased to say that Jane was ok although some of her neighbours had suffered water ingress. However Jane informed me that another woman,not one of her neighbours but a lady from another part of our village, had some feet of floodwater and was looking for temporary accommodation whilst her home dried out and the electrics could be sorted, perhaps 2 or 3 months.
She has a couple of children of school age and naturally didn't want their education disrupted so Jane asked me if I knew of anywhere locally for this family.

Three houses along from me there is a second home owned by a couple from the south east who occasionally visit but also let the cottage out as self catering holiday accommodation. I was able to email him to explain the family's predicament asking if they could help which they could, and then it was just a matter of a phone call or two to get the wheels rolling. As luck would have it the couple from the SE were coming down to their holiday home this weekend anyway so that the two parties were able to meet each other. So, in this instance, a second home came to the rescue!

There are, for me, many issues which I see in black and white but there are many more where you have to be somewhat pragmatic. Perhaps the thorny issue of second homes in Devon and Cornwall is one of the latter!