Linda Taylor launches survey as 25,000 wait for Cornwall homes

Nearly 25,000 households are on Cornwall’s housing register, waiting for a home. Former Council Leader Linda Taylor has launched a survey asking residents across Penwith, the Lizard and St Ives what they make of the wait, and of how the council is handling it.

What the survey is asking

The survey is aimed at people across west Cornwall and takes under two minutes to complete. Linda Taylor says she wants local views heard directly rather than “buried in council reports”. It is live on her Facebook page, and you can take the survey here.

Criticism from within the administration

The survey follows pointed comments about the council’s housing record from one of the administration’s own members. Cllr Adrian Parsons, the Liberal Democrat member for Altarnun and Stoke Climsland, has called for “less talk and more delivery”, describing the recent record on social housing as “notoriously poor”.

His remarks came after the council announced plans to release around 400 acres of council-owned land for at least 4,000 new homes. That scheme has already drawn scepticism from within the administration, including from Adrian Parsons himself.

Linda Taylor has held up those comments as evidence the council is falling short. “This is a damning admission from the very people running Cornwall Council today,” she said. “In Penwith, on the Lizard and in St Ives, people are sick of empty promises while this administration dithers. When I was Leader, we did not talk. We acted.”

The record Linda Taylor points to

Setting out her own time in charge, Linda Taylor highlighted a 100% council tax premium on second homes, brought in under her administration to discourage properties standing empty for much of the year while raising revenue for local services.

She also pointed to her administration’s support for the Duchy of Cornwall’s Nansledan development in Newquay, set to provide almost 4,000 homes once complete, 30% of them affordable. Linda Taylor led work on the Cornwall Good Growth Plan 2024 to 2035, a framework for affordable housing and heritage projects across the county, and secured a Level 2 Devolution Deal bringing greater local control over funding and services.

“That is a failure of leadership, plain and simple, and residents deserve far better than warm words from an administration that even its own members admit cannot deliver,” she said. “I want local people’s voices heard loud and clear.”

📷Linda Taylor, who supported the development of Nansledan, visiting the Duchy of Cornwall's affordable homes scheme in Newquay during her time as Leader of Cornwall Council