Seaside town set for vote on houses for local use only
New properties built in town should only be for locals, residents claim
THE PEOPLE of Whitby are set to be asked to vote in a referendum on whether to bring in legislation that means any new homes built in the town should be restricted to local and permanent use.
It is the latest step to tackle the town’s housing crisis in which house prices have rocketed to the point where young, local people and families are having to move away to get on the housing ladder.
On top of that, almost a quarter of properties are classed as holiday lets or second homes.
On Thursday night, a rare town assembly was held under a 1972 local government act, the first of its kind for 20 years, where attendees agreed that the process for the referendum should be moved forward.
More than 100 people were at the meeting and, in an emphatic vote, it was agreed that the question “Shall all new builds and additional housing in the Whitby parish be restricted to full-time local occupancy as a permanent residency only and forever in perpetuity?” be put to the returning officer at Scarborough Borough Council’s democratic services.
If the question is deemed suitable for a public poll, it has to be scheduled to take place in the next few weeks.
Should the people of Whitby vote in favour, it will lie with Scarborough Borough Council to take the results of the vote forward and any actions after that.
Coun Chris Riddolls, from the White Leys ward of Whitby Town Council, proposed the question at the public meeting, held at The Coliseum.
He said: “It is not possible to do anything about buildings that are already built. We are trying to stop the building of houses that are not what Whitby people want – that is the main issue of this proposal. The council has to build the right sort of houses for Whitby.”
There are fears that young people are being pushed out of the town because of high house prices, the lack of private rented properties available and that in turn communities and generations of families that go back for hundreds of years in Whitby are being displaced.
Members of the public told the meeting of their fears that future generations of their family may not be able to raise their own children in Whitby due to lowerthan-average wages and higherthan-average house prices.
Joyce Stangoe said: “We have to encourage young people to live in towns. We have very few young people able to afford to buy housing here. There are other ways of finding housing but we have to look at primary housing in Whitby.”
WHITBY RESIDENTS have expressed fears that future generations, including their own children, are being forced out of the seaside town to bring up families and start their own homes due to high house prices, which are being pushed up by the demand for second homes and properties to turn into holiday lets.
At a town assembly meeting, held at the Coliseum in Whitby, it was overwhelmingly agreed that moves be made to look at introducing a new policy whereby any new properties built in the town can only be for local people and permanent residences.
The legalities of this are set to go to a referendum and Scarborough Borough Council intervention over the coming weeks, but residents spoke of issues where communities and generations of families that go back for hundreds of years in Whitby are being displaced.
Marie McCrone said: “This approach of restrictions, there are some issues around how much it helps or not and in some areas it has helped considerably.
“There is research about the destruction of communities and where you go above 20 per cent ownership of holiday homes and holiday rentals.
“The key thing for me is that it is absolutely vital there are affordable homes in Whitby for people who are born here, live here and work here.”
Susan Hornby who was born and lived in Whitby all her life said her children have had to
move away from the town for work and housing because they couldn’t afford to stay.
She said: “My daughter moved to Leeds because there was no work here. When she wants to come back, she can’t afford to buy a house. My son lives in Guisborough because he can’t afford to buy a house in Whitby.
“We are losing the young people from our society. It is okay saying build affordable homes but some people can’t afford a mortgage, what about rental properties?”
However, rental properties are
becoming scarce as private landlords start to move away from the sector due to financial burdens, red tape and lack of legal protection – with increasing numbers choosing to holiday let rather than long-term contracts.
Last month, The Yorkshire Post reported that Scarborough and Whitby MP, Robert Goodwill had called for an overhaul of the business rates system to make holiday letting less attractive a business model and earlier this week Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale in the Lake District, spoke in the House
of Commons to slam reforms to improve housing issues caused as a result of second home ownership as laid out in the Queen’s speech.
He warned proposed reforms to tackle second home ownership
are not comprehensive and will leave loopholes for properties bought as an investment to let out as holiday homes.
While the Government does plan to double council tax on second homes which are left empty for the whole year, he says the small business will pay no council tax and no business rates.
He added that people going to food banks in rural communities are subsidising wealthy people with second, third and fourth homes, while the reality of affordable homes is that they are not and he was angry for
rural communities country.
“We are building for demand and not for need, and it is time to build for need. The Government do not give planning authorities the power to say to developers, ‘Get knotted unless you are going to build for local people and families and make those places affordable.’ So I am angry, not just on behalf of my community but on behalf of communities across rural areas of our great country, that there is so little, if anything at all, for us in this Queen’s Speech.” across the
We are losing the young people from our society. Susan Hornby, whose children have had to move away from Whitby for work or housing