http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/cou...andalised.html
Rural revolt gathers pace as upmarket new homes vandalised
Rural residents have vandalised a new housing development as a revolt against second home owners gathers pace.
Protesters daubed "No More 2nd Homes", "Greed" and "Go Away" on buildings in a picturesque village where many of the properties are empty for large parts of the year.
It comes amid growing concern in some parts of the countryside that wealthy city workers are pricing locals out of the housing market and turning communities into "ghost villages" by buying up homes that they visit rarely.
In the latest incident, vandals defaced a development of new homes on the night before estate agents held an open day. Their slogans, written using white paint in 2ft high letters, had to be washed off before prospective buyers turned up to view the four £485,000 properties on Saturday.
Residents of Worth Matravers, Dorset, where more than half of the 174 properties are said to be holiday homes, said the new houses had been targeted because they had replaced much-needed amenities.
Average homes in the village, on the Isle of Purbeck, now cost about £400,000. The area has long been popular with second home owners because of its dramatic cliff-top location, and interest in the area rose after the Jurassic Coast was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
The second homes issue has been partly blamed for the closure of six of the 18 schools in the Purbeck area.
One villager, who did not want to be named, said: "I do not know who did it, but it does reflect the resentment and ill-feeling in the village against this development.
"People were angry when we lost a craft shop and a cafe because we knew it would be turned into houses.
"And we knew they were not going to be affordable houses for young local people.
"No doubt they (the properties) will be bought by wealthy people from London who will only be here at weekends and in the summer."
Joyce Meates, chairman of Worth Matravers parish council, added: "These new properties are quite small but very expensive and they are just the sort of houses driving young local people out of the area. There is no way locals can afford them."
The estate agents, Corben and Son, said it was aware of the damage to the homes but it could not comment further. Dorset police said it was not aware that it had yet received a report of criminal damage.
The row is the latest in the South West to involve second home owners. The sports presenter Steve Rider has been involved in a planning dispute after he objected to proposals for affordable housing in a picturesque village in Devon.
Mr Rider, the anchor of ITV's football coverage, lodged a formal objection to plans by a charitable trust for six cottages in the riverside village of East Portlemouth, saying the development threatened the community's "peace and solitude". The plans were later approved.
Residents of Helford, Cornwall, many of them reported to be second home owners, have successfully challenged plans to build a new jetty in the village, which was intended to help local fishermen land their catches.
Last year a countryside review commissioned by the Government suggested that owners of second homes could be forced to live in their country properties year-round or rent them out permanently to tenants.
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I would like to see a tax on second homes.
Rural revolt gathers pace as upmarket new homes vandalised
Rural residents have vandalised a new housing development as a revolt against second home owners gathers pace.
Protesters daubed "No More 2nd Homes", "Greed" and "Go Away" on buildings in a picturesque village where many of the properties are empty for large parts of the year.
It comes amid growing concern in some parts of the countryside that wealthy city workers are pricing locals out of the housing market and turning communities into "ghost villages" by buying up homes that they visit rarely.
In the latest incident, vandals defaced a development of new homes on the night before estate agents held an open day. Their slogans, written using white paint in 2ft high letters, had to be washed off before prospective buyers turned up to view the four £485,000 properties on Saturday.
Residents of Worth Matravers, Dorset, where more than half of the 174 properties are said to be holiday homes, said the new houses had been targeted because they had replaced much-needed amenities.
Average homes in the village, on the Isle of Purbeck, now cost about £400,000. The area has long been popular with second home owners because of its dramatic cliff-top location, and interest in the area rose after the Jurassic Coast was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
The second homes issue has been partly blamed for the closure of six of the 18 schools in the Purbeck area.
One villager, who did not want to be named, said: "I do not know who did it, but it does reflect the resentment and ill-feeling in the village against this development.
"People were angry when we lost a craft shop and a cafe because we knew it would be turned into houses.
"And we knew they were not going to be affordable houses for young local people.
"No doubt they (the properties) will be bought by wealthy people from London who will only be here at weekends and in the summer."
Joyce Meates, chairman of Worth Matravers parish council, added: "These new properties are quite small but very expensive and they are just the sort of houses driving young local people out of the area. There is no way locals can afford them."
The estate agents, Corben and Son, said it was aware of the damage to the homes but it could not comment further. Dorset police said it was not aware that it had yet received a report of criminal damage.
The row is the latest in the South West to involve second home owners. The sports presenter Steve Rider has been involved in a planning dispute after he objected to proposals for affordable housing in a picturesque village in Devon.
Mr Rider, the anchor of ITV's football coverage, lodged a formal objection to plans by a charitable trust for six cottages in the riverside village of East Portlemouth, saying the development threatened the community's "peace and solitude". The plans were later approved.
Residents of Helford, Cornwall, many of them reported to be second home owners, have successfully challenged plans to build a new jetty in the village, which was intended to help local fishermen land their catches.
Last year a countryside review commissioned by the Government suggested that owners of second homes could be forced to live in their country properties year-round or rent them out permanently to tenants.
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I would like to see a tax on second homes.
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