A housing summit has been organised in Cornwall.  The blurb for it is set out below. “A major new Cornwall Housing Summit will take place on Friday 17 April 2026 at Cornwall Council’s County Hall in Truro, bringing together leaders from housing, health, skills, planning, community and business sectors to tackle Cornwall’s deepening housing crisis.   Cornwall has experienced years of rising house prices, soaring rents, growing waiting lists for social housing and increasing ho

Summary Before looking at the data for holiday homes and lets it’s important to look at the overall number of dwellings in Cornwall.  There are three categories: all dwellings; dwellings on the council tax base and then the number of dwellings containing households. In 2024 there were 293,500 dwellings, 286,000 on the council tax list and 256,100 dwellings used for households.    Comparing the three sets of data gives some intriguing results.  In 2024 there were 29,900 more d

Introduction To get a picture of dwelling numbers and housing tenure in Cornwall requires analysis of several different data sets, from the Office for National Statistics and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.    The ones used for this post are: Annual household tenure estimates; 2021 census; Council tax base; Vacant dwellings data; ONS annual total stock. Taken together they provide a comprehensive outline of the current situation yet also introduce a deg

The Government released its Land Use Framework for England on March 18th.  This is designed to provide “ a coherent national vision for how we use our land,… ”   A land use framework is in principle a good idea, setting out what land is currently used for and what changes are necessary to ensure that land is used effectively and sustainably in the future.  However, this document fails to do this.   It alludes to the governments proposals to build 1.5 million houses, a policy

Those who support extra development in England use data, which they suggest indicates that there is plenty of spare land, which could and should be developed.  They assume that any undeveloped land is empty, unused and available for development ignoring the fact that the land is already being used either for food production, forestry, natural land, rough grassland and water. The UK already imports about half of its food and water is becoming a scarce commodity.   The table be

Summary ‘Forest city’ is a proposal to build a large city in the Suffolk-Cambridgeshire area.  The underlying reason for developing this city is that Britain is short of dwellings, which it is asserted makes housing unaffordable. Looks like a forest!   Although it sounds entirely necessary and feasible it is in reality based upon the premise that we need to increase housing supply to make housing more affordable.  Yet the evidence suggests otherwise.    1) England has a surpl

Introduction This post examines the function and potential roles of Town and Parish councils.  It is part of a series looking at local and regional government in Cornwall.   There are a total of 213 civil parishes of which, with the exception of some 16, are either Town or Parish councils.   Current functions Town and Parish councils play a part in delivering services – for example  allotments, parks and local spaces, car parks, events other community services and producing n

People often query why there is a difference between the cost of building a property and the price of the property. They assume that the difference is purely down to the cost of land and that this reflects the impact of planning.  But is this the correct analysis?   Lets look at why house prices are more than the cost of construction.   Land values Base component There is what we can term a base element or value. This will vary according to factors such as demand for land, po

The Cornish Social and Economic Research Group (CoSERG), responded to the then Governments proposals for changes to Cornish local government in 1992 in the document ‘Empowering Cornwall’ published in 1994. This post builds upon the 1994 report.   One element of the document proposed the establishment of Community Councils, decentralising non-strategic decision–making to the lowest possible level. The objectives behind the proposal were to: encourage local involvement, strengt

Understanding the context around housing and housing issues operates is essential.  Contrary to the simplistic assertions made by the supply and demand lobbyists and associated academics there are a number of factors which impact on housing, its availability, price and location.    We can create a model to explain how the housing market works or not!  The first element is that of population change, in particular the formation of new households.  In a steady state population n

The Government has announced in a MAGA style event at the Labour Party conference plans to build 12 new towns.  A policy heralded some time ago.  The assertion is that there is a housing shortage and building more houses is the answer.   The problem is that the government lacks understanding of the housing market and has fallen for the ‘we must build more houses’ mantra of the development lobby and associated free market lobby groups – incorrectly styled ‘think tanks’.    Con

Newquay is a settlement, which has undergone considerable change over the years.  Originating as Tewynplustri or Towan Blystra in 1305, it has evolved into an urban area spreading onto adjacent farmland.   So lets look at more recent history from 1991 to 2021.  Using census geographies, Newquay is divided into three Mid Super Output Areas (MSOAs) - 018 St. Columb Minor and Porth, 020 Newquay West and 021 Newquay East.  Looking at these areas its possible to examine how it has

There is a move on X (formerly known as Twitter), to promote the building of luxury housing in towns on the grounds that by so doing so, less affluent people will be able to move into those properties left by those moving up.  The supporters argue that where such housing is built, rents have fallen.   The assertion is flawed in a number of respects.  The studies quoted mistakenly use only two variables – additions to dwelling numbers and changes in rent.  In the real world it

In July 2024 the government introduced new housing targets.  Overall the objective is for a total of 1.5 million over a four-year period or 375,000 per annum. The rationale was that there is a housing shortage and a greater supply would make housing cheaper.   The evidence suggests otherwise.  There is already a surplus of 1.5 million dwellings in England. Problems of affordability and poor quality housing will not be addressed by building more. There are policy options to de

My London has extracted data on the number of second homes for each London borough from the council tax base for 2024.   A total of 48,930 were identified.  Chelsea & Kensington had the highest number at 7,667.  In all, seven boroughs accounted for 32,433 or 66.3% of the total.    Table 1 Second homes Share of all homes Borough No Cum no % Cum % Kensington and Chelsea 7667 7667 15.7 15.7 Tower Hamlets 7572 15239 15.5 31.1 Camden 6298 21537 12.9 44.0 Southwark 3148 24685 6.4 5

The business demography release examines data relating to enterprises.  It excludes those working as self-employed.     1.Main points The number of UK business births increased from 316,000 to 317,000 between 2023 and 2024; this has led to a small increase in the business birth rate from 11.0% to 11.1%.   The number of UK business deaths fell from 310,000 to 280,000 between 2023 and 2024; this has led to a decrease in the business death rate from 10.8% to 9.8%, the lowest dea

There are two distinct schools of thought on why house prices go up.  So different in their underlying assumptions that they exist in parallel universes.    One is based on the question of supply or rather the lack of it.  It is asserted that a lack of supply lies at the root of housing problems, rising prices, lack of affordability regarded as the main consequences.  This approach reflects mainstream thinking, supported by lobby groups, a number of academics and dominates th

There are two distinct schools of thought on why house prices go up.  They are so different in their underlying assumptions that they exist in parallel universes.    One is based on the question of supply or rather the lack of it.  It is asserted that a lack of supply lies at the root of housing problems, rising prices, lack of affordability regarded as the main consequences.  This approach reflects mainstream thinking, supported by lobby groups, a number of academics and dom

A recent post released under the auspices of Bank Underground, examined why house prices have increased since the mid 1990s. The authors Arno Hantzsche and Harriet Jeanes, state “Houses account for the largest share of total assets held by the UK household sector. Households’ spending and saving decisions depend in part on the price of these assets”  Therefore understanding the drivers of house price changes is essential in understanding how this important element of the econ

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have recently released their estimates of greenhouse gas emissions for the UK.  Although all of the three categories of emission have seen a decline since 1990, the Footprint (consumption), which are the most useful one to consider saw the smallest fall of 20%.    Details from the ONS release are set out below together with details of how to access the source.   Main points UK greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are reported on three bases