Cllr Julian Brazil, of East Prawle, Kingsbridge, writes:

It always amuses me to read a good old patronising letter in the paper from a second home owner telling local people what’s good for us, Gazette, January 13.

No doubt forelocks will soon be available at all good retailers. Locals can buy and then dutifully tug said forelocks while bowing in deference to show how grateful we are to second home owners.

I do not subscribe to the view that questioning the role of second homes in our communities is somehow divisive and ­verging on racism. The vast majority of residents understand the economic benefits that second and holiday homes bring to the South Hams, but we are also aware of the downsides.

Ridiculous house prices are one, but there is also a danger of villages and even towns losing their ‘critical mass’ of full-time residents. Such ­communities become unviable – no shop or pub, no public transport and soon no children as young working families struggle.

As with most things, a ­balance is required, and it is absolutely right that local communities should decide on that balance – at what point the proportion of second homes has reached its tipping point.

I fail to see how doubling council tax for second homes will ‘cause more division and animosity’. To me it seems a very fair way of raising the extra money we desperately need.

In the South Hams such a tax would raise in the region of £8m. This money can be used to mend our roads, provide better care for our elderly and vulnerable and properly fund our schools for starters.

Why shouldn’t those ­fortunate to own not one but two or more homes be asked to give a little more? After all, it’s nothing in comparison with the money made due to rising house prices over the past few decades.