Second home tax scheme for Dales killed off by vote
Park boss insists radical ideas needed to avert crisis
Empty houses do not make for vibrant villages Carl Lis, chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
RADICAL NEW ideas have to remain at the heart of decision making in the Yorkshire Dales National Park if its deepening housing crisis is to be reversed, the park’s chief executive has said.
After a move to take forward a proposed rise in council tax on second homes in the park was “killed off” at a council vote in Richmondshire, park boss David Butterworth pledged the park authority would take a fresh look with local councils at how to attract young families to the area.
Mr Butterworth did however caution that much of the progress on building new homes and infrastructure to make the park more attractive for families to live and work now relies on market forces.
“I hope the Richmondshire vote will have no bearing on how leaders and communities in the Dales can work together to attract people to live in the Park, and retain those who have grown up here.
“We all know this isn’t just about second homes,” he said.
“There is more that we need to do on affordable house building, the extension of broadband and mobile phone communication, developing economic sites, promoting the Dales, trying to protect schools, etc but much of that is outside our direct control and we will have to rely on the market to provide a lot of it.”
The divisive proposal to pursue a council tax hike on second homes was abandoned after a narrow vote against taking the proposal any further by Richmondshire District Council.
The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority was only prepared to seek talks with the Government about the options available for raising the tax on second home owners if the proposal had the backing of all of the park’s eight constituent councils.
But after South Lakeland District Council voted in favour of pursuing those talks, Richmondshire councillors voted 13 to 12 against the proposals, while three members abstained.
Carl Lis, the park authority’s chairman, warned that though the tax proposal had been axed, the underlying problems it sought to address persist.
“Empty houses do not make for vibrant villages,” he said. “The dramatically shrunken rolls at some primary schools tell the story most powerfully of all. This issue isn’t going to go away.”
Richmondshire councillor Ian Scott, who represents the communities of Reeth and Arthengarthdale and voted against the proposal after Reeth Parish Council made known its unanimous opposition, said: “Broadband is the biggest issue, for me, to attract families to the Dales. Until that comes along it is not going to attract young people.”
Mr Butterworth added: “From today we go again in terms of what we can do. Finding good men and women willing to work alongside us to crack on to do the best for these communities.”
THE DELIVERY of better infrastructure and more vibrant economic conditions that are needed to attract young families to the Yorkshire Dales National Park will only increase in difficulty as more properties become second homes, the park’s chairman has warned.
A vote by Richmondshire District Council against exploring any further a proposed rise in council tax for second home owners means the idea has been abandoned.
And while the council’s leader, Coun Yvonne Peacock, insisted that the authority will “move on” to look at other options that could help boost the viability of Dales communities, chairman Carl Lis said told of his “sadness” of passing on problems to the next generation to sort out.
“Communities in the National Park still need more affordable housing, better broadband and greater sustainable economic development. It will just be that much harder to deliver those things while we continue to lose the existing housing stock to second homes,” Mr Lis said.
By dismissing further talks in a narrow 13-12 vote, Richmondshire District Council had rejected the views that too many second homes can have an adverse impact on the viability of local communities and that there are too many second homes in the national park, Mr Lis said.
“I think many people living in the National Park will be staggered by those conclusions,” he said, and criticised those who had opposed the proposal.
“It’s interesting to note that opponents to this simple proposition to have a conversation with the Government on the second homes issue in the National Park have not put forward any of their own suggestions on what we should do to address it.
“What level of unoccupied and under occupied homes in our Dales villages do they think will present a problem, 20 per cent, 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 50 per cent?
“The Dales is characterised by strong, self-reliant communities. But, there is no doubt in my mind that some of these communities have been considerably weakened in the past 20 years by, among other factors, the rapid growth in unoccupied and underoccupied housing.”
A spokesman for the Dales Homeowners Action Group, which was set up to oppose a tax rise, hailed Richmondshire’s decision as “a triumph for common sense” in an “ill-conceived exercise” which had already damaged the Dales’ fragile economy.
The group claimed that house sales had stalled and that at least £300,000 of work had been postponed or cancelled with local builders because of the uncertainty created by “a politicallymotivated and vindictive attempt at social engineering”.
David Butterworth, the chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said it had been “absolutely right” for the leaders of local councils to raise the issue of an ever increasing number of under occupied properties and the impact that has on communities.
“Frankly, it has been difficult to have a grown up debate,” he said, adding that too much had been made of the initial suggestion of a five-fold increase in tax on second homes.
“That was about ‘thinking the unthinkable’ and getting the debate going. It was never part of any formal recommendation or proposal. Some opponents of the idea have deliberately misled people to think otherwise.”
A VICTORY for common sense – or the effective death knell of the Dales? Given the divisive nature of the controversial plan to impose a council tax surcharge of up to 500 per cent on second homes in the Yorkshire Dales, the likely success of the proposal was always in the balance and so it proved when members of Richmondshire District Council voted against the wishes of their own leader Yvonne Peacock who was among those to advocate the principle of the scheme.
Yet, while the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority should have done more to acknowledge the financial contribution that second home owners do make to the rural economy through the support of local tradespeople, shops and so on, it has certainly not been a wasted exercise. Far from it – there’s now much wider understanding of the need to build affordable homes, and create new jobs, in this iconic area.
However, while underoccupied properties are clearly a major irritation for policy-makers who are also duty-bound to spare these cherished landscapes from over-development as they look to better meet the future housing needs of local people, the decline of services in Dales communities will only gather pace and these towns, villages and hamlets will become even less desirable for families wanting to live, and work, in the countryside.
Given how the Government’s proposed shake-up of post-Brexit farm subsidies, launched this week, is intended to reward those landowners who make a significant contribution to the protection of the natural environment, perhaps Ministers need to offer incentives to the Dales authority and local councils across North Yorkshire so they’re rewarded for the number of low-cost homes built and new jobs that are created each year. Doing nothing is not an option – the challenge facing the Dales economy was said at the outset of this debate to be comparable to the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic – and policy-makers need to come up with an alternative means of generating the revenue and investment that this area clearly needs if it is to survive and thrive.