Village Christmas

I always return to this cartoon at this time of year, which I have used for many years to explore the impacts of second home ownership, particularly during this year, when many of these houses may sit empty over the festive period because of travel restrictions.

Locally, there has been some issue with cases rising ahead of the move to Tier 4 lockdown. This has perhaps reduced the number of people travelling, although I know there are some houses occupied currently by people whose home is in London.

The original work is by the cartoonist Posy Simmonds, with whom copyright rests. Apologies also that I can't get the PDF to rotate by 90 degrees for some reason. It was included in a geography textbook that I used over 20 years ago - can't remember which book either.

Village Christmas by GeoBlogs

In the local paper yesterday, there was a reminder of this issue locally.

We are regular visitors to Wells next the Sea, and a recent survey found that 1 in 3 homes were second homes (37%) which means that there are issues for local services if they are not permanently occupied and also concerns that people may travel there from other areas and potentially increase COVID-19 infections.

Affordable homes are needed, and Homes for Wells is one group which campaigns for those.