Anybody else spotted any signs of spring? No, I don’t mean the daffodils and the camellias. I mean the plethora of estate/letting agents signs with properties To Let. This is increasingly becoming an annual event in Falmouth and Penryn, especially when all the student lets come up for renewal for the next academic year.

Not content with taking so many of our family homes, the authorities’ collaborating private landlords (who make up to twice as much money for a student let – and pay no council tax) rub our noses in it by flooding our towns with To Let signs, predominantly on student lets, soon after the New Year. (Of course, this is absolutely no fault of the students who should be provided with more accommodation on-campus – which, as we all know only too well, has never been adequately provided.)

Now, no one minds a For Sale sign, or even a To Let sign; they provide a useful service, but when they morph into a Let By or Managed By sign, and then remain in place for months on end, this becomes but an advertisement for the letting/management company, with no other function, and is offensive street litter. And they are everywhere.

More importantly, as I understand it, this is contrary to the Town and Country Planning Act 2007 which states that such signs should only be in place for a maximum of fourteen days after a tenancy is agreed. The company should then take their sign down – very often it would appear that they don’t. In addition, Cornwall Council is supposed to enforce this Act. It appears they are not. Therefore, if they annoy you too, report it to the Council’s Planning Enforcement Officer, who can fine them £2,500 for each infringement (which would make up some of the revenue we all lose in Council Tax), and take ‘em down!

Marc Laundon, Falmouth