Sign our petition

Across our national parks and protected landscapes, local people are being priced out of the communities they call home. A surge in the number of second homes and short-term holiday lets has reduced the supply of homes available for permanent residents and caused house prices and private rents to rise far beyond wages. In turn, communities are being hollowed out as school rolls shrink and businesses struggle to recruit workers and remain viable year-round. 

We believe it is possible to support a thriving visitor economy while giving a fairer chance to people wanting to live and work permanently in heavily-touristed areas like Cumbria. This requires stronger controls on the loss of residential homes to holiday use.

We call on the government to

• Level the playing field between holiday lets and the traditional holiday accommodation sector by introducing a mandatory registration and licencing scheme which gives local authorities the power to refuse new licences where a significant proportion of properties are already given over to holiday letting.
• Empower local authorities to require planning permission before a permanent residence can be changed into a holiday let or second home.
• Close the loophole by which those owning holiday lets pay little or no business rates rather than the council tax on which local authorities depend for vital public services.