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14
Apr 2021
Pandemic sparks fresh concerns over Yorkshire Dales second homes
The impact of the pandemic has led to fresh calls for action on people buying second homes in the Yorkshire Dales.
A Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority meeting heard there was increasingly clear evidence that more people were buying properties as an investment rather than as somewhere to live and work.
Members were told 3,100 of the national park’s 12,000 properties were now holiday lets and second homes, and the number was rising.
The pandemic had accelerated the trend for rural relocations among wealthy and retired people, the meeting heard.
The concerns come three years after the park authority saw its proposal to bolster communities by imposing a five-fold increase in council tax on second home owners in the national park rejected.
Former Friends of the Dales chairman and park member Mark Corner told the meeting the pandemic had been "a game-changer to how society will be acting in future”.
He questioned whether the authority needed to reassess its strategies, such as promoting the area as somewhere for families to live and work.
He said:
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Third generation farmer Allen Kirkbride said the village of Askrigg in Wensleydale was seeing a deluge of properties becoming second homes and holiday cottages.
He said:
Veteran authority member Robert Heseltine added the authority was “as guilty as anyone in promoting Yorkshire Dales as a destination”.
Joining calls for fresh action, he said:
The authority’s chief executive, David Butterworth, warned members of the lack of support from surrounding councils the last time they tried to raise the second homes issue and said the market determined who bought properties for second homes.
He said:
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