Barry Lewis’ first aim is to help solve the housing crisis in a “second home paradise”. Barry, 86, owns development company Housing Matters Ltd, which he formed with the specific desire to build homes and let them at no more than 50 per cent of the market rate; what he describes as “real affordable homes”. The founding chairman of the former Penwith Housing Association, Barry now has a dream to help the people of Portloe and surrounding area on the Roseland Peninsula.
His one-man mission started after reading a story I wrote last year which highlighted the housing crisis facing locals in the seaside village, which one resident described as a “second home paradise”. Portloe has been rated as among the “20 most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland”. That might explain why, according to residents, 85 per cent of houses in Portloe are now second homes or holiday accommodation.
"I chatted to locals following a public meeting in neighbouring Veryan when parish council chairman Luke Dunstan revealed there is only one child living among the 90-odd houses in Portloe. There are currently seven properties in Portloe for sale on Rightmove, from £650,000 to £2.25m; prices that are well out of the range of the average local.
Dave Rounsevell has lived in the area all his life and is one of just two remaining fishermen working out of the harbour. He told me last year: “In the past, up until the early ’80s, you could have earned enough working at sea to afford a mo.