Fishermen Fight for Jetty
Helford is yet another village that has been taken over by second home owners driving property prices up and local people not being able to stay in the area. Cornish fishermen who use Helford village to land their fish have been stopped from building a new jetty by a “Village Society” dominated by second home owners, many living in London.

For more than five years frustrated fisherman Chris Bean has been heading attempts to build a jetty in the creek of the Helford River. He says: “This is virtually the last landing site in the UK for fish without proper landing facilities and there’s a million pounds worth of fish goes across this beach every year. It’s easily a viable proposition.” Plans for the new jetty and roadway were approved by the local district council almost two years ago to the satisfaction of the conservation bodies.

It is on hold because members of the Helford Village Society have forced a judicial review of the council’s decision. It will cost the local council a considerable amount of money to put their case and local council tax payers will have to foot the bill. It’s a sensible way forward for the fishermen who work here all the year round as it's hard work dragging everything up over the beach. Most of the objections are from people who come down for short periods of time. They do not actually live in the village. It is not their place of residence, it is their holiday home.” Fifty of Helford’s 80 properties are unoccupied for most of the year. The Helford Village Society is the main source of opposition to the new jetty scheme. The district council received 170 letters of objection. Several people sent letters both from their Helford and their main properties.

Nick Jacobs, who has had a second home in Helford for more than 30 years has spoken to the BBC from his office in Mayfair, where he runs an asset management company, he said: “It’s a beautiful, special spot. Do I want to see a new road along the seashore? Do I want to see a new car park there? Do I want to see industrial use there, with a lot of concrete, vehicles parked, that sort of thing? No. Helford is a proper balanced community. There are a lot of second homes but those places are rented out. It’s an industry, it’s called tourism and it supports local people and for it to be portrayed as a bunch of wealthy, disinterested, distant people is very, very unfair.”

That last paragraph says it all, they have little respect for Cornish lifestyle, or are too selfish to care!

PS. On the 6th March, the High Court threw the case out on a 'technicality' in favour of the Village Society, so it's Emmets 1, Locals 0...... a triumph of lifestyle over livelihood!

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