Lake District National Park bosses have called for action on the rise of holiday lets in places like Eden, Keswick and South Lakeland.
Board members of the national park authority met in Kendal this week to discuss a number of issues impacting the area.
Public figures say that the rise of holiday lets in tourism hotspots is reducing the number of homes available for purchase by young families and first time buyers. Holiday lets are also subject to business rate relief and do not incur council tax, meaning that their rise has an impact on the income of local councils.
And national park board members heard that the authority has been “strongly pressing lots of buttons to try and make sure the issue of second homes and holiday lets, particularly in the Lake District and National Park, was taken seriously.”
The authority has submitted evidence to Government in response to a proposal for a registration system which would monitor the number of holiday lets in towns and villages.
In correspondence with Government, the authority has called for additional measures including ending the council tax exemptions and requiring planning permission to use a property as a holiday let.
Park authority officers also welcomed the Government’s chief planner to Hawkshead to explain the issue and is lobbying Cumbria’s MPs. Tony Lywood, county councillor for Keswick and LDNP board member said: “I’m very happy with this response to Government over the holiday let issues.
“I think, for the outside world it must be made clear that we’re not against the visitor economy, we’re absolutely for the visitor economy.
“We welcome holiday lets, we welcome second home owners. They bring people to the Lake District and they bring money to our towns and villages. This is all to do with proportionality.
“What I hope Government will intend to do is introduce a registration system, with eventual caps on the numbers of holiday lets so to slow down and indeed stop the onset of so many second homes and so many holiday lets, that our communities within the Lake District will cease to function as communities.
“We love tourists, we welcome our visitors but we don’t want so many holiday lets in the Lake District that it will choke and kill the very communities that people come to visit.”
Judith Derbyshire, board member and Eden District councillor added that the Lake District is “losing its permanent residents” as well as its workforce. It’s a very complex issue but I’m glad we’re doing something.”
