Having lived in St Ives since 1994, I can say – with some sadness – that Tanya Gold paints a pretty recognisable picture of the way this beautiful town is buckling under the pressures of high-value overtourism and the relentless squeeze on what’s available for locals – the foundations, in other words, of sustainable community life (‘It’s just a rich man’s playground now’: how St Ives became patient zero of British overtourism, 10 August). If you’re struggling to find a long-term residential let, let alone pay the rent, you’re not going to be able to cheer yourself up with a £29 seafood linguine from what was once an affordable local cafe.
What Gold doesn’t say is that local government has a crucial role to play in enabling the full‑time residents of St Ives to carry on our daily lives – to bring up families, work and contribute to the community. Or so you’d think. But the terror of deterring tourists by making it, say, even slightly more difficult or expensive to drive into St Ives is leading to decisions that, once again, put locals under the cosh.
Under a transport project for which Cornwall council has won £5.5m of Town Deal (ie, levelling up) funding, local residents face being kicked out of their council‑owned parking spaces to make way for visitors, while traffic is funnelled away from the tourist honeypot harbour into more densely populated residential streets on St Ives’ higher slopes, where tight-packed Victorian terraces often have no outdoor space that could be used for parking.
Result: residents forced to move out of St Ives, more houses sold as second homes, more pollution, and more problems living and working full-time in a town that desperately needs to grow its non-tourist economy. Unless Cornwall council swings squarely behind its own people here, Gold’s “patient zero” will end up on life support.
Michael Bird
St Ives, Cornwall
As residents of St Ives for 20 years, I and my partner would like to inform Tanya Gold that St Ives is definitely not “desolate”. We have a very lively community, with many arts events, organisations and venues, including an excellent three-screen cinema, the Hepworth museum and sculpture garden, and the renowned Leach Pottery (free entry for locals).
Gold’s article states that St Ives is empty in winter. Absolutely not so. One of her interlocutors claims that most shops are boarded up except in the summer and most of the cafes are closed in the winter. This is simply not the case.
Will Sleath
St Ives, Cornwall
