Authorities in the Yorkshire Dales have proposed a plan to ban the building of second and holiday homes in its villages to uplift rural communities and counteract overtourism.
The Yorkshire Dales attract a large amount of tourists to its natural wonders and beauty spots, from hikers who take on the crags and woodlands to those seeking a short break in the countryside. However, the new housing market plan hopes to consolidate its economy to provide more opportunities to permanent residents.
Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) have released a local plan which will be subject to a formal public consultation early next year, and have mapped out a proposed way to guide new housing development in the area over the next 15 years.
The authorities have set a target of developing new housing within the national park, however, the plan states that all new housing should be permanently occupied rather than used as a second home or a holiday let.
“There is a lot in this draft, with 52 new policies to consider,” Richard Foster, a local councillor and member of the YDNPA, said. “These policies seek to support farm businesses, and cover housing, the rural economy, traditional buildings, landscape and wildlife, amongst other things.”
The plan outlines 369 potential new homes in areas such as Bolton Abbey, Grassington and Long Preston that would be developed to meet the authority’s target of 750 dwellings by 2040.
The plan will also support the development of the rural economy with a greater focus on climate change and nature recovery.
The plan focuses on primary residency “to maximise the use of new housing and avoid loss to the holiday market,” the draft plan released in December said.
A July housing market assessment of the national park found that there are over 13,000 dwellings in the area, but only 10,272 households, indicating that 22 per cent of the houses in the Dales plan area are not permanently occupied.
Out of this, 12 per cent are thought to be holiday lets or vacant properties while the other 10 per cent are predicted to be second homes.
In comparison, the plan said the equivalent figure for non-permanently occupied housing in England and Wales in 2021 was six per cent.
The authorities are hoping that a moderate increase in permanently occupied housing will increase the number of working-age households living in the National Park, which will benefit local services and support local businesses while mitigating the impact of an otherwise rapidly ageing population.
The visitor economy in the Dales has seen strong growth, recording 6.67 million visitor days in 2023, contributing £485m to the local economy.
However, the park hopes to diversify and restructure businesses in order to improve the economy’s resilience and add more dependency on service sector jobs.
“Whilst higher than average levels of holiday letting may be expected in a national park where overnight stays are promoted, very high levels of holiday letting within the existing housing stock, have been demonstrated to restrict the supply of lower quartile priced housing and therefore harm the vitality and sustainability of rural communities,” the plan states.
The plan insists that tourism proposals “should aim to support local community services, as well as provide jobs and local economic benefits.”
“New development will however need to avoid harm such as significant additional traffic movements or noise and light disturbance that might otherwise erode some of the park’s special qualities,” the plan adds.
The authorities outline that the plan also supports sustainable tourism and the appropriate improvement of facilities to extend the tourism season and enable the public to better enjoy the park.
In terms of visitor accommodation, it points to the opportunities for farms and land management businesses to create lets, as well as having to focus on sustainable, short-stay, self-catering holiday stays.
Camping, for example, is an inexpensive and sustainable way of enjoying the Yorkshire Dales, it says.
Foster also added to The Telegraph that “existing properties will still have the opportunity to become holiday cottages. We are not saying we don’t want them, but we want new houses to be used to send children to school and provide jobs.”
“We’ve got a shortage of people living in the Yorkshire Dales and we are hoping this will help with that,” he added. “We are not saying it’s a solution, we just hope it helps”
It is expected that a draft of the plan for further public consultation will be published in early 2025.
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