A Conservative MP has called for tenants to be offered affordable homes in tourist hot spots if they can prove they're local.

During a Commons debate on short-term holiday lets, East Devon MP Simon Jupp (pictured) suggested that councils could be allowed to reserve a percentage of new builds for people with a local family or economic connection to an area.

The tenant or buyer would have to prove one of the following conditions: that they currently live or work within 25 miles of the property, they were born within 25 miles of the property, or could demonstrate a care network within 25 miles of the property.

A covenant would permanently protect a percentage of any new housing stock from short-term let or second home ownership.

Local first

'We undoubtedly need to build new homes in East Devon, but we should aim to look after locals first,'� said Jupp. 'The government can be creative and proactive in looking at all possible options - only then will there be a better balance.'�

Fellow Tory MP Kevin Foster, who brought the debate, said the government should create a planning system that let local communities strike the right balance between providing accommodation options for tourists and ensuring a supply of housing for locals, which was vital in providing the staff and services to support tourism.

An amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill would introduce a registration scheme for short-term lets and a consultation into how this would work closes on 7^th June.

There are also plans to restrict the ways in which homes can be flipped into short-term lets by bringing in new permitted development rights so that councils could limit their use in geographical areas with the highest number of short-term lets.

Watch his speech.