Planning needs to be unlocked for commercial space across Cornwall in order to provide much-needed employment opportunities and ease overreliance on tourism, according to Vickery Holman agent Morwenna Pound.

Vickery Holman is the leading regional agent across the South West region on the Radius Rankings for space transacted so far this year and Pound – who works from its Truro office - leads the individual dealmaker rankings for Cornwall, with 67,970 sq ft transacted across 28 deals.

Pound says demand is very strong for industrial units of around 1,000 sq ft, but planning headaches and development costs mean these are in short supply. She also believes there is an urgent need for entry-level professional jobs across the county to help change the fortunes of what have become some of Europe’s poorest areas.