By Julia Penhaligon

Cornwall’s countryside is about to come under a ferocious assault from property developers and County Hall planners, following publication of the latest government rules in pursuit of its ambition to build 1.5 million new houses before the next general election.

Cornwall has been given a mandatory target of around 4,500 new homes per year, a massive increase on previous years.  Cornwall’s previous target was around 2,625 with planners and developers failing to meet even this, achieving only 1,700 completions last year.

The government’s new National Planning Policy Framework is an 82-page document which talks about the need to develop “brownfield” sites before moving to the Green Belt.  It also creates a new category of “Grey Belt” – meaning previously developed land.

The document is entirely silent on the contentious question of second homes, relying instead on conventional "supply-side" economic theory assuming that if you build enough houses, prices will fall to the point where they become affordable.

But many people say the market distortions caused by the demand for second homes are a huge part of Cornwall’s problems.  The politics of someone owning more than one home while someone else has no home are easy to understand.  The Labour government appears to have shied away from grasping this nettle.

Labour's planning rules also maintain the previous Conservative government's definition of "affordable" as meaning only a 20% discount on the open market price.  In Cornwall, for many local people, this is unaffordable.  Progressives lament Labour's reluctance to link its "affordable" definition to local incomes.

Cornwall currently has no Green or Grey belts, only urban areas, including rural villages, and open countryside.  Hundreds – possibly thousands – of new homes will have to be built on the outskirts of rural villages if Cornwall is to meet the government’s mandatory target.

Although County Hall has identified more than 100 “brownfield” sites, sufficient to build 2,500 homes, much of the new development will be on agricultural land.  Farmers and other land owners are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of dramatic profits as a result of new planning permissions.

At the same time Cornwall is experiencing a surge in second home ownership, despite the imminent 100% increase in council tax.  There are now more than 14,000 second homes in Cornwall, a rise of 7.5% on last year, suggesting that the council tax hike needs to be far more aggressive if it is to have any deterrent effect.

Among the measures outlined this morning (Thursday) is a requirement on councils to plan for six years, rather than five, and a warning that any which fail to meet their targets risk losing control to Whitehall.

Cornwall currently has more than 26,000 approved planning applications where developers have simply "banked" the land and watched its value increase.

Last week Cornwall Reports noted that County Hall’s revised Local Plan has already identified 12,000 acres suggested by landowners as being suitable for development.

The government wants Cornwall to complete 87 new homes per week - delivering a massive boost to landowners and property developers, but alarming conservation groups