A group of West Cumbrian chalet owners are continuing to fight to get a reduction in council tax on their holiday properties.
The Allonby Chalet Owners Campaign Group has issued a manifesto outlining their aims and copies were handed out at a meeting of Cumberland Council’s executive committee at Allerdale House in Workington on Tuesday.
They are asking the council to reinstate the 50 per cent council tax discount for the purpose-built holiday chalets that was in place under the former Allerdale council for 30 years.
Their manifesto states: “The potential impact of the forthcoming Levelling Up and Regeneration Act maintains the power of discretion by billing authorities to apply discounts on certain classes of dwellings (put in place by the LGFA 1992), and simply extends these discretionary to also make council tax premiums.”
It adds that there should be no legal reason why the former discount cannot be re-instated and the group believes that the discount was removed inadvertently by the newly formed unitary authority.
According to the manifesto Band A properties, which covers the holiday chalets, are based on properties which were worth £40,000 in 1990 – or £160,000 today – and the group claims their properties are worth a fraction of that amount.
It states: “We do not own the chalets in the same way you would own a property. We have no deeds and no rights; we could be asked to leave within 14 days.
“As such our chalets have limited capital value which does not accumulate in line with inflation the way that a second home would.
“We are not denying anyone a home, or depleting the local housing stock, we are effectively preserving Allonby’s heritage.”
In addition, the chalets are not equipped for winter use, and they have very limited services in terms of street lighting, access roads, phone lines or access to wi-fi.
They claim that, realistically, they can only be occupied between April and September.
The manifesto states: “There are only 48 Band A purpose-built holiday chalets in the whole Cumberland Council area and the cost of reinstating the 50 per cent at 2023/24 rate is less than £23,000.”
A Cumberland Council spokesman said: “We understand the strong feelings of some second home owners. We will look at all our policies, and at what options are available to us on this issue, within the framework of the law.
“We will consider this very carefully and make sure the outcome is as fair and equitable as possible.
“We have had lengthy discussions with the chalet owners, and we are committed to continuing to engage with them.”
