by Mark FR Wilkins
The Rights Group SL

Although Bob Dylan once wrote "Believe none of what you read and only half of what you hear", when recently scouring the UK press, we are tempted to believe that there is a grain of truth to one report.

We were staggered to read in The Daily Mail on 20th June 2005 that moves were being contemplated by John Prescott, the UK's Deputy Prime Minister, and Margaret Beckett, Environmental Secretary, to radically change planning laws. Such changes would require a purchaser to apply for planning permission before they could use their second home. Under the proposed changes, the Local Planning Authority would have the power to refuse families the right to buy their chosen property if they intend to live there only at weekends.

The Daily Mail quotes Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, who in referring to the remit of the Rural Housing Commission (RHC) - established as a Labour election promise - said that it would consider the "case for Government intervention, through planning control or otherwise, on second homes".

A junior Minister is quoted as saying that the RHC is to "report early next year on what further action we can take across central, regional and local government to combat this problem".

To our knowledge, no such plans are being considered in a similar vein in Spain.

With the "joys" of getting to your country bolt hole in Devon or Cumbria now being severely reduced by road congestion and now, potentially, a new planning regime, perhaps there has never been a better time to look for your second home in Spain. The comparative ease with which you can take a bargain flight from one of the UK's many national or regional airports to Malaga, Jerez, Almeria or Granada now makes a week or weekend away - as often as you like - a practical reality.

Look forward to seeing you here!

© Mark FR Wilkins 2005 (Marbella)

Mark FR Wilkins, The Rights Group SL, mark@therightsgroup.com, www.therightsgroup.com, 0034 600 343 917