One of the UK’s larger national parks is planning to stop any new homes that are built within it being used as holiday/short lets or second homes.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) says that 21% of the homes within its boundaries are second homes, holidays lets, short-term lets or empty and that, unless action is taken, the park will continue to see a decline in the number of people living there permanently, which currently stands at approximately 24,000.

It is predicted that this number will decline by 9% over the next 15 years unless action is taken.

A consultation document launched by the YDNPA says that “since the occupancy of the existing stock [some 13,000 dwellings] cannot currently be influenced by local planning policy, any additional need will have to be met through the construction of new ones”.

Consequently, the authority wants to encourage those who live and work there to stay and attract more younger people and families into the park.

It is proposing to green-light 369 new homes within the park between now and 2040 on 23 sites all of which will have to be ‘principal residencies’ of the people living within them, although some 430 other homes are proposed as well without ownership restrictions.

But the YDNPA has shied away from insisting that those who buy them must prove that they live or work in the park.

The authority, which is running a consultation on its future plans for the park, has faced opposition from existing residents, who say the number of new homes being planned would change the character and nature of the park for the worse.

Local resident Stuart Little has told the BBC that his village, Threshfield, would see a 50% increase in homes if the proposed house building goes ahead and that therefore the YDNPA’s plans contradict its purpose to "enhance or maintain the beauty" of the area.

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