'Planning' call for second homes

Ms Goldsworthy said action needed to be taken to help local buyers

People wanting to sell their properties to second-home buyers should be made to seek planning permission, the Liberal Democrats have suggested.

Julia Goldsworthy, MP for Falmouth and Camborne, said residents were being priced out of the housing market in Cornwall and needed help.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme giving new powers to local authorities could "partially" tackle the problem.

But the Conservatives said such a move would make the situation worse.

Shadow local government minister Eric Pickles said the idea could result in "two classes" of homeowners as there was no indication planning permission would be retrospective.

"You will have thousands of people plunged into negative equity because most people will have borrowed to obtain these houses," he added.

Pension rules

Recent government statistics found more than half a million English families now own a second home, and over half of those use their properties as weekend or holiday homes.

Ms Goldsworthy's constituency includes some of highest proportion of second-home owners in England.

Under the Lib Dem proposal "local authorities will be able to plan to make sure the communities that people are coming down to live in remain sustainable", she said.

"Nobody wants to see village post offices, schools, pubs, closing but you need people there all of the time so they do stay open."

The party were also concerned that new rules allowing people to invest in residential properties as part of a pension would lead to more second homes, she said.