Parliament: Andrew George MP asks question on second-homes

In my constituency, three times as many properties continue to be sold to second-home buyers than to first-time buyers. The Government's rural advocate and their Affordable Rural Housing Commission recommend action, and meetings that I had with the Minister for Housing's predecessor and with the Prime Minister have left the door open for action, so can I assume that the Government will act to rebalance the market? If so, when will they do so? more>

How to hear from Andrew George MP

The MP for this constituency is Andrew George (Liberal Democrat). So far, 65 people have signed up to HearFromYourMP in this constituency. To discover everything you could possibly want to know about what your MP got up to in Parliament, see their page on our sister site... more>

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Why Land's End is the pits

Taking a wheelchair on holiday to St Ives is like being in one of those naval field-gun teams racing over an obstacle course. What were they thinking when they built it? Had they never so much as glanced at the EU directives on accessibility? ...more>

County? Region? Duchy? What do Cornwall MPs say?

May I suggest a slight amusement? Look at the things Cornwall MPs say and see how they deal with the c-word. Do they say county or use some other word or circumlocution? Is there a pattern? Who never says county? ... more>

Lib Dem priorities...

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has been urged to put pressure on social network website Facebook to create a network area for people from Cornwall.
Liberal Democrat Julia Goldsworthy, the Falmouth and Camborne MP, presented a petition to Parliament calling for Cornish recognition.

"Despite being a county with a population of 500,000, the nearest geographical area represented on Facebook is the city of Plymouth in Devon," she told MPs.

The petition states: "Cornwall should have its own network region on Facebook. Cornwall possesses one of the world's oldest natural borders, its own language and flag and a population of half a million people."

The petitioners urged Mr Burnham to press Facebook's owners to create a Cornish network... NEWS.scotsman.com

Dogs on beaches (and elsewhere) 7

A report in this week's St Ives Times & Echo - "St Ives 'being turned into a toilet'" - claims that "parts of St Ives are being turned into a toilet because of a lifting of beach restrictions which now allow dogs on St Ives beaches throughout the summer".

The probable consequences of the new regulations was first raised at the beginning of April by The St Ivean.

The Times & Echo story says:

"There were strong feelings on Wednesday when people living around The Warren said clearing up after dogs had become a daily task.

"Local beaches have now become a free-for-all for dog owners in the evenings and early mornings much to the annoyance of some".

The report says that there are concerns that St Ives could lose its Blue Flag status because of the daily fouling taking place on the beaches. People in The Warren have been told that street cleaning would be done once or twice a week.

Reports of dog fouling can be made to Penwith via the FixMyStreet website.