Coastal towns’ future in doubt

Housing concern for residents

FOR MANY residents of Yorkshire, having a second home on its glorious coastline is something of a dream.

However for those who live in our Yorkshire coastal towns the rise in the level of second homes is beginning to become something of a nightmare.

Figures published by The Yorkshire Post today show that in Whitby alone, close to one in five properties in the town are now second homes.

More worryingly 15 per cent of new builds around Whitby over the last 10 years are now holiday lets.

While the rise in interest for holidaying in Yorkshire is of course to be welcomed, we must be mindful of the fact that if more and more properties in our coastal towns are vacant for much of the year, the available housing stock for young, local people to remain in their home towns will become increasingly limited.

This will not only be a tragedy for those families forced to relocate elsewhere.

It also threatens to erode the very thing that makes Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington and other towns along the coast so attractive to tourists.

The considered words of Dr John Field of Whitby’s Civic Society should be heeded. Dr Field has warned about the future of Whitby’s historic old town, even going so far as to suggest “the ship has sailed” on preventing former fisherman’s cottages being lost to holiday homes.

Dr Field, along with Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill, is calling for a legislative rethink around who can purchase new builds and affordable housing. Mr Goodwill suggests an overhaul of business rates to manage the increasing numbers of properties lost to temporary residences.

While this would be a welcome start, we need a system that benefits, rather than penalises, local coastal town people so that everyone can enjoy the unique appeal of these towns.