The people of St Ives are taking a stand.
They’ve overwhelmingly voted to stem the tide of second home ownership in their beautiful coastal town in Cornwall, after a huge surge in demand for second homes and holiday lets pushed up house prices and priced local people out of their own community.
But property developers are so furious at the decision that one of them is taking the council to court for letting residents have their say.
The people of St Ives just want their children to be able to afford their own homes in the town they grew up in. If we can show them they have overwhelming support across the country, we will put huge pressure on the developers to drop their legal case and back down.
Stand with the people of St Ives and tell RLT Built Environment to drop its court case against Cornwall Council.
For years, the people of St Ives have watched their children being priced out of the town they grew up in by wealthy weekenders who buy up local housing for second homes. As a result, half of the homes in prime parts of the town have no full-time resident -- and the average house costs now more than 17 times the average salary earned by locals.
So when the council offered the town a referendum on second homes, the response was overwhelming. 83% of voters backed proposals that mean only full-time residents of the area will be allowed to own new-build properties in St Ives.
But property developer RLT Built Environment immediately applied for a judicial review, saying the proposals could interfere with the basic human right to own property. And, with several other communities considering following St Ives’ lead, corporations across the country will be watching to see what happens next.
SumOfUs was created to support people’s struggles against corporate greed. And time and again, we’ve shown that if we stand together, ordinary people can beat corporate interests. Let’s stand with the people of St Ives.
Let’s tell RLT Built Environment to drop its court case against Cornwall Council.
Thanks for all that you do,
Sondhya, Bex and the rest of the SumOfUs teamMore information
The Guardian. 6 May 2016.
BBC News. 6 May 2016.