The Irony Thread
Comments
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. . . I think the win you missed is that if they do sell as another second home, they get the increased council tax
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
I mentioned it above, but in the context of that not freeing up homes for local people.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Still not sure where the irony is in Vorderman selling a holiday home. The Telegraph article even points out that it's Pembrokeshire County Council that imposes the premium. PCC is not a Labour run council.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
So what you're saying is that they can only get one of the wins per home, but regardless, they're guaranteed to get one of the wins.
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They aren’t trying to get extra money, they’re trying to protect housing supply for locals. The increased charge is a means to achieve that and it sounds like it’s working. It’s needed in many areas, when I was in Cornwall the other week (ironically and hypocritically in a holiday rental) virtually all the cottages in the centre of St Ives were rentals.
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Yes, I read it like speeding fines... the result that they want is that people modify their behaviour, not that they want the money.... but if people don't modify their behaviour, the authorities will take the money, thank you very much.
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For a typical second home owner, is a higher Council Tax really a game-changer in the ownership decision? Feels more like the Council wants to be seen to be "doing something" rather than it being a serious route to greater availability of houses for locals to buy.
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Well, apparently it worked with Vorders... I guess it's as much as anything sending a message to second-home owners, as well as being a way, in financial terms, of recognising the desirability of favouring residents, especially where the balance has tipped too far towards holiday lettings. If St Ives (say) expanded to take in as many people who wanted to live there, it would change its very nature, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to press slightly on one side of the scales to try to influence the choices people make.
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Where there are significant numbers of people involved, one will always have some "outliers" so one can't really infer anything at "population level" from Vorders' actions.
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Who knows? You have regular interviews with people saying they’ll have to sell up like you do when landlords get told they have to provide decent quality housing. If you’re relying on income from rental to cover the costs and you’re suddenly forking out a couple of grand extra a year then maybe.
FWIW we have a family friend in her 90s. She was born and raised in Cornwall but moved to London on becoming a teacher. She inherited her family home and always lived there in the school holidays but remained in London after retirement for family reasons, continuing to live in Cornwall whenever possible and considering it as home. Unfortunately these days she can no longer really cope alone in Cornwall and relies on others to get her down there. She had originally intended to keep the house until leaving it to her daughter but is now going to sell due to it getting classed as a second home (I think she knows the daughter has no interest in keeping it in the family and it will eventually be sold).
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Re "Who knows?" one would (perhaps naively) assume the Council that introduced the policy would have some tangible evidence as to the likely outcome. If their priority is housing supply rather than extra tax revenue then the policy needs to work.
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It's a fairly free hit for them. Either they get more money to spend or more housing. The only downside is if it affects tourism and therefore the economy.
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We don't even know that that is why she sold. There is no quote to that effect just an assumption. I'm finding it a little unlikely that someone of her means is bothered about an extra £3k of Council tax.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Don't really care as that wasn't the point of the post. I replied to someone who claimed it was a win-win and that's as far as I can be bothered to go as I'd hate to detract from the irony 😊
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Well I'd like to thank you for bringing it to my attention that for England this isn't just a possible as yet unformed Labour policy as I'd thought when doing some random musings a couple of months ago, but actually is going to happen in every council in England starting next April. 100% council tax premium for second homes across the whole of England because councils can't afford to turn down any source of revenue.
There might be one or two councils that don't implement it, but doesn't look likely.
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Still struggling to see the irony here Stevo. Perhaps take a leaf out of Vorderman's book and move on.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Had she been a billionaire plumber she'd have been running to The Telegraph to tell everyone how unfair it was and how she's abandoning Wales as a result.
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Maybe a policy having the effect it was aiming for is considered ironic these days.
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Already have.
You seem to struggle a lot.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Just saw a job advertised for someone to develop the staff travel plan at an international airport to help them hit a target of 30% of employees travelling to work using public transport. One of the first benefits listed was free staff parking!
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Maybe they're over the 30% threshold and need to get it down a bit? 😊
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
"The crash investigators will also examine the train’s data recorder and analyse data from the railway’s signalling and radio systems. The Cambrian line was used as the pilot for the introduction of digital signalling and train control systems that are designed to reduce the chance of human error.
Elwyn Vaughan, a local Plaid Cymru councillor, said: “There are dedicated passing places. The norm would be one train parks there, and the other passes. The fundamental question is: why that didn’t happen?"
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Absolutely blinding insight from the local councillor, there.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Their 15 minutes isn't it? I think I've heard comments from the same guy on various news outlets.
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The explanation is in the article: the downhill train overshot the passing loop - possibly due to sliding downhill on leaves - exited the passing loop and hit the other train before it reached the passing loop. The nature of passing loops/single track is that both trains need to arrive at the passing loops at roughly the same time. If the braking of one train is compromised by leaves then no amount of signalling is going to stop a collision.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
The real irony is that for years there has been a running joke about trains being cancelled because of the wrong type of snow, or leaves on the line.
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That's why they are cancelled due to leaves: it means the trains can't brake properly.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Exactly the point I was trying to make. All the eye-rolling about trains being cancelled because of leaves by people who don’t appreciate the reason. Sadly this incident highlights the dangers.
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Politicians suggesting Ukraine needs to negotiate with Russia, while wearing a poppy
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
