Holiday home owners have ’taken the ****’ by claiming £50 million in small business grants, says a Cornwall Councillor.

The cash was made available by Government to help small businesses survive the coronavirus crisis, and Cornwall Council has paid out £195m to more than 17,000 businesses so far.

Lostwithiel Councillor Colin Martin was the first to point out that it might not be considered fair for second-home owners to get their hands on this cash, and he urged weeks ago that this loophole be closed.

Another Councillor, Cornelius Olivier, has also said that second-home owners should not be able to class their properties as small businesses, a status which he says enables them to avoid paying both council tax and business rates.

But it has been revealed that 5,000 holiday lets, which are eligible for the grants by virtue of being registered as businesses, have each claimed £10,000 from the scheme.

That means that almost a third of the Government money has gone to second-home owners in Cornwall.

Labour Cllr Olivier said: ’They don’t need the money mostly and they shouldn’t get it. There are lots of business that will struggle to survive even if they get this help. Why are we giving this money to people who don’t need it? We should be making a stand.’

And he added: ’It is quite clear that the business grants are for – to keep people afloat that wouldn’t otherwise survive.

’For these holiday lets to get this money – you know I think they are taking the p*** by applying.

’Even if you have a property that you work quite hard to maintain and use as a holiday let – I don’t think it is a matter of financial life and death like a cafe or a pub.’

But the councillor went on to say: ’I don’t want to demonise people. This has been caused by a loophole that we have been campaigning to have closed for years.

’But this money is going to the wrong people and we are giving people a bailout for making a house unavailable for a person in Cornwall. They are not trying to keep a struggling business alive.’

This week, the Welsh Government said that only holiday homes which are their owners’ majority source of income would be able to get the grants.

Cornwall Council leader Julian German said the council would like to have a similar criteria but it would have to be something agreed by the English Government.