Scandal of the Cornish family forced onto the streets

To the outrage of locals in Padstow last week, a family of four were forced from their home of fifteen years and onto the streets. The family, who didn't want to be named, had lived in their Cornish town all their lives. The father, a worker in a local business, speaking from a Council run hostel held back tears as he described yet another sickening chapter of Cornwall's housing nightmare:

'The landlord, who lives in London, hasn't even visited Cornwall since the Nineties. He wrote to us telling us he was doubling the monthly rent. We simply couldn't afford what he was demanding. He told us he wanted the same as what he'd get if it was a holiday home.

'We went to the council but they couldn't help - they told us that because we were a working family there were no benefits we were entitled to, and no housing, because they'd given so much planning consent for luxury holiday homes in Cornwall. We're devastated. We pay taxes, we must have paid tens of thousands in council tax over the years, and now we're all living in a cramped, damp room.

Ironically, the family's former home is yet to be let out, and like hundreds of thousands of other holiday lets in Cornwall, remains empty.



Because of an unregulated housing market, where homes are bought and sold in a frenzy of uncontrolled gambling, greed and determination to get as much out of the system as possible, ordinary working families pay the price.

'I don't understand what these property developers want,' added the father. 'We work, we pay taxes, why is the government subsidising luxury housing and making working families homeless? It defies common sense.'

The evicted family have now secured new, proper accommodation, but the mother warns: 'Cornwall's housing crisis is being ignored by the politicians. Whole families who work, pay taxes, contribute to the community are being shunned for greedy property developers who'd rather see whole villages empty just to make a profit.'

Greedy companies destroying Cornish greenbelt, profiting out of Cornwall's housing nightmare

Rentfreecornwall can reveal that private companies, set up using UK government grants by pretending to be 'regeneration' companies, are buying up land in Cornwall, and selling it to wealthy incomers.

Using taxpayers money - your money - some private companies have been using legal loopholes to get permission to build expensive luxury homes, then selling them on at a profit to greedy property developers.

Meanwhile, as wages in Cornwall continue to fall, and young people are forced out, unable to afford proper accommodation, other organisations and private companies are also cashing in on the collapse of Cornwall's economy, as more communities are destroyed by property speculation, by marketing Cornwall to wealthy incomers.

Two organisations that are increasingly coming under the spotlight as contributing to Cornwall's housing crisis are:



'Objective One' - this organisation surfaced 6 years ago, claiming to 'regenerate' Cornwall's economy. Objective One were also involved with the setting up of the notorious South West Film Studios - the private company went bust in 2004, along with £2 million of taxpayers money, and is now under criminal prosecution for fraud.



Camborne Pool Redruth Urban Regeneration Company - this organisation appeared from nowhere 5 years ago, yet consistently come under pressure to refute serious allegations of financial and illegal mismanagement against them.

No prosecutions yet, but many are wondering if CPR have yet to properly account for why they are planning to build thousands of expensive luxury homes on what is allegedly greenbelt land.

Sickeningly, both of these companies are subsidised by the taxpayer.

Cashing in on Cornwall's housing crisis - ghetto building on poisoned land

This former factory on brownfield land is owned by Tucking Mill Urban Village Ltd. The private company with no history of business in Cornwall surfaced 2 years ago claiming they wanted to achieve a 'sustainable development, quality design, and good community facilities.' But Tucking Mill Urban Village Ltd are actually proposiing to make money out of selling inadequate, low quality, and over priced housing on contaminated land.

Cornwall is famous for its tin mining industry. Although tin mining is now being regenerated in Cornwall, due to recent price rises, much industrial land still lies vacant, so its cheap and easy to pass off these scams as 'affordable' housing or 'regeneration' projects.

Tuckingmill Urban Village Ltd are also wasting thousands of pounds of taxpayers money on promoting the development, and if given the go ahead to build high density housing on this poisoned land, would create dangerously high levels of pollution from the increased congestion in an already overcrowded, under-resourced part of Cornwall.

Despite draining local taxpayer's money, none of the accommodation being proposed by the private company will be affordable to most people in Cornwall, and many believe most of the 'homes' will simply be bought by buy to let landlords, or used as investments and left empty as holiday homes.

But Tuckingmill Urban Village Ltd are constantly sending out brochures and press releases giving the impression that they are a public funded organisation, with strong community interests. Why is this? Because they need public approval to get the go ahead for their money making scheme.



Cornwall's housing crisis is being made worse by companies like Tuckingmill Urban Village Ltd, and ordinary working people are insulted by the company's patronising public relations stunts and cliche ridden pronouncements.

Its time working people were given the accommodation they need, not harrassed with misleading comments by companies seeking to make a quick profit by pretending to want to help the community, when really Tuckingmill Urban Village Ltd want to build over priced and poor quality housing on dangerously contaminated land.