A LIVELY debate is taking place about second homes in the Dales and the appropriate levels of council tax that should be applied to them. Mark Corner, chairman of the Friends of the Dales, puts forward his view.

While there is disagreement about this issue, there are few who would dispute that ‘something has to be done’ to address the serious challenge of the sustainability of our Dales communities. We welcome the focus that the second-home debate brings to this wider issue.

The fundamental issue is that jobs in the Dales, many in agriculture and tourism, do not pay enough for families to afford to live in the area. Many young residents are leaving and new families are not arriving. Our landscape is a cultural one, shaped by its communities, and if our communities diminish, the special qualities that attract potential residents and visitors will, over time, diminish too. Halting this downward spiral is a significant challenge, which the National Park Management Plan, now nearing draft publication, needs to address. The plan, which several of our trustees are contributing to, will include welcome initiatives in stimulating economic regeneration and jobs creation, providing improved broadband and mobile coverage, attracting working age people to the area, and, we hope, improved public transport. A key element of the plan must be the response to the lack of affordable housing in the Dales.

Although employment levels in the Dales are higher than the national average, average annual incomes are lower, at under £20,000. To buy a house, this wage earner may be able to borrow 3.5 times income, giving a mortgage of £70,000, or for two average earners £140,000. This loan, plus the deposit required by the lender, sets the ceiling on the house that can be afforded.

Along with other national parks in England and Wales, house prices are at a significant premium of around 49 per cent more than their surrounding county. In the Dales, the average house price is around £304,000, 43 per cent higher than the £213,000 average for North Yorkshire.

Assuming a deposit of 20 per cent of £304,00 (£60,000) is found (unlikely with the UK average of £25,000), a buyer needs to borrow £240,000 to afford the average house price, with two average earners only being able to borrow £140,000. The affordability gap to buy a house is clear and significant. The average rent in the Yorkshire and Humber region is £520 per month and higher in the Dales, so renting is not be easy on the average incomes described.

Because of this affordability challenge, acute in the Dales, the government has a programme to provide ‘affordable housing’, which it defines as “social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing (for sale and rent provided at a cost above social rent, but below market levels), provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market.” The government’s definition, when it comes to renting, is that affordable homes should cost no more than 80 per cent of the average local market rent.

Housebuilders, by cross-subsidising the profits they make on their ‘market’ properties in development schemes, generate about half the affordable homes built in Britain. The numbers they contribute are set in negotiations with planning authorities through Section 106 planning agreements. Some developers have reduced the number of homes they are obliged to build by arguing that agreed numbers are no longer economic (we are pleased to see that CPRE is campaigning on this issue). Housing associations are the main providers and managers of affordable homes. The government allocates a housing grant to build affordable homes and most housing association tenants live in social accommodation.

The National Park Authority, in its 2015-2030 Local Plan, has committed to build 55 new dwellings per year. On sites of 11 or more dwellings, 50 per cent must be affordable housing or alternatively 33 per cent affordable and 33 per cent local occupancy restricted housing. On sites between six and 10 dwellings, the developer pays a sum in lieu of providing affordable housing (with the money used to support affordable housing elsewhere in the National Park), and on sites of up to five dwellings, new housing is restricted to local occupancy.

Finding land and developers interested in the delivery of affordable housing is a challenge. Research by the National Housing Federation reported in “Affordable housing saving rural services - Rural life monitor 2017” demonstrates how building a few affordable homes in rural settlements can help to keep important services open, particularly schools, post offices and pubs – three pillars of community life.

We have been encouraging the National Park Authority to be more proactive in addressing this issue. We would like to see the Authority investing in land specifically for affordable local housing. Where the authority is being proactive is on second homes.

The National Park Authority and the local district councils have jointly agreed to ‘halt and reverse the decline in the number of younger people in the National Park’. As part of this initiative, the authority is proposing for ‘The local authorities within the Yorkshire Dales National Park hold discussions with Government on the options available for increasing council tax for second homes within the National Park.’

The number of second homes in the National Park now accounts for 11 per cent of the housing stock (1442 properties). The average for second homes in England is 1.1 per cent There are parishes within the national park where the proportion of second homes is over 25 per cent.

These properties are not available to buyers wishing to be permanent residents and they contribute to higher house prices. Over 2001-2011, an average of 60 new dwellings were built each year but an average of 90 houses per annum were turned into second homes, giving a net reduction in housing available for residents. These occasionally occupied properties leave ‘dark gaps’ in communities, especially outside the main tourist season, leaving a rump population of year-round residents with a reduced contribution to the local economy and a lower call on local services – including schools and shops, which can end up closing. Hollowed-out villages are less vibrant communities. It seems clear that the long-term viability of communities in the national park is affected by second-home ownership.

Increasing council tax on second homes would encourage some existing homes back into full time occupancy, discourage the purchase of further second homes, and result in second home owners contributing economically to the area.

There are counter-arguments to this initiative. Second-home owners contribute to the conservation of the housing stock, bringing empty properties back into use and helping the local economy in doing so. A property lived in for part of the year is better than a property empty all year. There are unsold properties on the market already, although their suitability for single or young family occupancy is not clear.

As part of a series of measures needed to revitalise our communities, Friends of the Dales supported this proposal. We are very disappointed that Richmondshire District Council has rejected the second homes proposal before full consideration has been given to it. We hope it has have some alternative ideas to address the community sustainability challenge.

* This feature first appeared in the Yorkshire Dales Review, the newsletter of the Friends of the Dales, the Yorkshire Dales Society.