Government rejects MP's call for planning permission for second homes
Government rejects MP's call for planning permission for second homes
Plans to control the number of second homes in popular, rural locations have been rejected. A report by the MP for Truro and St Austell, Matthew Taylor, called for buyers to apply for planning permission to use a home as a holiday property.
Taylor's report, '
Living, Working Countryside', was ordered by Gordon Brown, reports The Western Morning News. However, housing minister, Margaret Beckett, vetoed the plan claiming that it would not tackle "the 'problem', such as it is".
Taylor, who is particularly concerned about the number of
holiday cottages in Devon and Cornwall, warned that future governments will have to revisit the issue. He also feared that more community services could disappear as a result of Beckett's decision.
The report concluded that the government should require
planning permission to change the use of properties from "full time homes to part time occupation". Taylor argues that due to the high levels of second home ownership and lack of year round residents, schools, shops, pubs and community groups are struggling for survival.
Beckett explained that the government does not feel it "appropriate...even for a trial period" to have different planning regulations in different parts of the country. "It would be very difficult...to
prove the use of a dwelling as a second home or
holiday let, given the wide range of contemporary lifestyles and family circumstances," she said in her official response. "Whether or not a person purchasing a property already owns other property elsewhere is not a consideration in land use planning."
The housing minister added that in the case of legal battles, it was likely that asking people to submit details on their living arrangements would contravene the
European Convention of Human Rights "with its right of respect for private and family life".
Recent research suggests that local economies benefit from
private holiday home rentals as holidaymakers increasingly opt for this form of accommodation. Over a third of
holiday home owners advertising on holidaylettings.co.uk fill their properties with paying guests for 25 or more weeks of the year. Supporting this notion, a survey of holidaymakers by holidaylettings.co.uk revealed that people
spend more in local shops and restaurants when staying in a private holiday home as opposed to taking a hotel break.
Discussing the issue on the BBC's Today programme, Taylor was recently interviewed alongside
Kirstie Allsopp, presenter of Channel 4's Location Location, Location and owner of two holiday homes in the West Country. Allsopp argued that as an alternative to requiring planning permission for change of use, vendors could sell property on the condition that it could not be used as a second home. The property expert also said that communities have to save themselves and that parish councils should come up with ideas to keep villages alive.
This story was brought to you by holiday
lettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 for holiday homes worldwide.
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