Local communities must be able to shape housing balance

QUIET in the winter, overflowing in the summer – such is the pattern with holiday hotspots up and down the country.

Such fluctuations create unique seasonal pressures for local communities and businesses.

The tourism sector, vital to the Westcountry economy – much like the equally seasonal farming and fishing industries – has reaped the benefits of an increased appetite for holidays on home soil.

But equally there has been a price to pay in the rush to take advantage of a staycation boom which took off during the pandemic as restrictions curbed overseas breaks.

Short-terms lets, made easy by such online agencies as Airbnb, have proliferated. People with lodgings to spare or a second home have been able to let it out by the day or week to holidaymakers who flock to this part of the country in huge numbers during the holiday season.

It is perfectly acceptable that people wish to boost their earnings or pension by providing holiday accommodation. It also enables the Westcountry to accommodate more tourists more easily, which in turns sustains numerous local jobs and businesses, in particular this region’s large hospitality and leisure sectors.

But this comes against the backdrop of a housing crisis which has seen property prices, particularly in coastal towns in Devon and Cornwall, spiral far beyond the reach of first-time buyers.

And homes available to rent over a longer term are now in increasingly short supply as they are turned into more profitable, and legally less complicated, holiday lets.

The knock-on effect being that the workers required to staff restaurants and hotels and resort facilities cannot find, or afford, a place to live.

In some areas the balance between the availability of affordable local housing and the proliferation of holiday lets has become unsustainable.

Now the Government is proposing giving local authorities greater control over short-term lets, requiring owners to gain planning permission in some locations.

As Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, says: “Tourism brings many benefits to our economy but in too many communities we have seen local people pushed out of cherished towns, cities and villages by huge numbers of short-term lets.

“I’m determined that we ensure that more people have access to local homes at affordable prices, and that we prioritise families desperate to rent or buy a home of their own close to where they work.”

The proposal for greater regulation has been welcomed by MPs in Cornwall, with Newquay and St Austell MP Steven Double saying it would help towns and villages become “vibrant, all year round communities”.

Popular destinations need both holiday accommodation and affordable housing, and it is right that the Government is looking at new measures to enable a better balance to be struck. And, rather than top-down blanket legislation, it is fundamental that local councils and residents have a deciding role in shaping that balance, ensuring their communities are sustainable over the long term.