Yorkshire launches push for new ban on out-of-towners buying beauty spot second homes - in follow-up move after council tax hikes
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A backlash against out-of-towners buying second homes in a British beauty spot has sparked proposals to ban anymore being built. Almost a dozen villages in the Yorkshire Dales are earmarked for planning regulations that would stop new builds that would not be permanently occupied.
![[Richard Foster, a local Conservative councillor and member of the YDNPA, said: 'A lot of the existing housing stock has already disappeared']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/15/20/93174847-14195391-image-a-14_1734296168766.jpg)
Drafted by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA), the plans would only allow homes to be built if they would be used as a main residency. In a report published this month by the YDNPA it said the ban would 'maximise the use of new housing and avoid loss to the holiday market'.
It adds: 'All new planning permissions will be restricted to principal occupancy only to ensure that new homes are targeted at households that are going to live in the Park and will not simply feed demand for more second homes or holiday letting.'. If the proposals were approved, the ban would apply to 11 villages across the Yorkshire Dales, a popular destinations that attracts more than six million visitors per year, contributing £485 million to the local economy.
It comes after North Yorkshire County Council doubled council tax for second home owners in April. Richard Foster, a local Conservative councillor and member of the YDNPA, said: 'These policies seek to support farm businesses, and cover housing, the rural economy, traditional buildings, landscape and wildlife, amongst other things.'.
