New rules to reduce number of holiday homes in the Yorkshire Dales
The Park authority has approved the rules
Rules to prevent new housing in the Yorkshire Dales from being used as holiday homes have been approved by national park authority leaders.
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has agreed to submit its new Local Plan for approval to the Planning Inspectorate.
Included in the document, which sets out planning policies until 2040, is a requirement that new housing must be used as the occupier’s permanent residence.
According to the 2021 Census, around 22 per cent of up to 13,100 homes in the park area were either vacant, holiday lets or second homes, with park authority chiefs concerned this figure has risen even higher since then.
Derek Twine, chairman of YDNPA, said that was an “exceptionally high level of under-occupied housing” when compared to a national average of six per cent.
He added: “Everyone would recognise that house building must be done particularly sensitively in a national park.
“We’ve worked hard to identify and allocate land for development. What our local plan policy for permanent occupancy means is that on sites of two or more dwellings, new homes will be restricted to principal occupancy only.
“This will avoid loss to the holiday market and ensure that new homes are lived in by people who can be socially and economically active in local communities, which is what we need.”
The local plan, which also identifies possible sites for new housing and business use, will now be examined by the Planning Inspectorate with the public able to make formal representations later this year.
At the meeting at the authority’s headquarters in Bainbridge on Tuesday, members also formally adopted a set of objectives for an updated management plan.
The 40 objectives include an aim to reduce the proportion of so-called under-occupied homes in the park to fewer than 20 per cent 2031.
It is hoped North Yorkshire Council’s premium on council tax for second homes will work with the new occupancy restriction to help meet this target.
The management plan aims to guide the work of all the organisations that operate in the national park during the next five years.
A total of 24 different organisations have lead responsibility for one or more of the objectives, with at least 60 other organisations helping the delivery of objectives.
Mr Twine added: “The Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan is a genuine partnership plan.
“It sets out an ambitious – but necessary – programme of work to which many local organisations have committed their support.
“Whilst it rightly focuses on tackling the challenges of climate change and the continuing decline in nature, it also identifies other opportunities to foster the social and economic well-being of local communities, by setting out objectives for more affordable housing, hyperfast broadband access, and support for viable farming businesses.”
Mr Twine said he hoped that with each five-year review, the management plan would become more embedded in the culture of all organisations working in the park.