Second chance

A NORFOLK local authority is considering following the lead of the Yorkshire Dales and banning the building of new second homes. More than 40 per cent of homes in some towns and villages in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and the council says local shops and schools are being undermined.

The modest move is about as much as local authorities can do to control second home ownership until the government responds to the report of its Affordable Rural Housing Commission.

The west Norfolk ban ban would apply in areas of outstanding natural beauty and in villages where more than one in four of the homes is already a second home. Local estate agents – surely not! – have attacked the plan, arguing that it will not stop second homes, just inflate the price of homes without restrictions even more.

The Affordable Rural Housing Commission called in May for funding for 11,000 affordable new homes a year in rural areas plus consideration of a range of options to control second homes. These included a local impact tax and a new planning use class order that would mean anyone converting a home to a second home would need planning permission.

The government says the proposals are being fed into the comprehensive spending review and planning policy statements on housing and that it is planning a website on improving access to affordable homes.