To those of us who, like myself, have campaigned for years now to see increasing fiscal measures to disincentivise people leaving second homes sat idle, the announcement in the Budget of an increase in Stamp Duty for second homes was music to our ears.

There are no points for guessing what my New Year's resolutions are.

I like to be a plain-speaking representative where what you see is what you get. You voted me in on 3 clear pledges - to work on jobs, housing, and the state of our towns.

With my work to create jobs and prosperity well underway, as showcased in a series of events with constituents at the end of November, and a range of meetings with the most promising growth industries in Cornwall, it is time now to turn my attention to the next of these three: Housing.

Our Labour government has set ambitious targets. Cornwall is no stranger to meeting its housing targets. But we've sadly been strangers to strategic direction and, all too often, seeing the right kind of homes being built. Apart from a select few developments where proper placemaking and infrastructure has played an integral role, we've seen the proliferation of far too many housing estates that put additional strain on local services without contributing anything. Worse, we've seen homes built in prime locations, destined only to be second homes, whilst locals are priced out. And, worst of all, we've seen greedy developers regularly renege on their Section 106 obligations.

I am under no illusions that just building, building, building on its own will do nothing to fix the Cornish housing crisis. That's why we now need to ensure that we get the right kind of homes to the right people - and house the next generation of Cornish workers, prioritising the types of homes which those who grew up locally, including social housing and Community Land Trusts.

Our social housing waiting list is abominably highly. Record numbers of second homes - over 14,000 - sit idle for most of the year.

To those of us who, like myself, have campaigned for years now to see increasing fiscal measures to disincentivise people leaving second homes sat idle, the announcement in the Budget of an increase in Stamp Duty for second homes was music to our ears.

But there is much more to be done. I urge all St Austell and Newquay constituents interested to sign up to one my launch events for my pledge to work to fix the Cornish housing crisis. They will be held in Roche on February 21 at 5.30pm, St Austell on February 28 at 7.30pm and Newquay on March 1 at 12pm.

Noah Law

Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay