The runaway trend of holiday lets in Keswick needs to be brought under control or the town faces another “axe” in community life.
That’s the view of members of Keswick Town Council who have called for a running total to be kept of the number of B&Bs and guesthouses being switched to holiday lets managed off-site.
It follows last year’s surge in applications to the Lake District National Park Authority from B&B and guesthouse owners applying to change their use into self-catering holiday lets.
The concern is that local workers in tourism and hospitality could run out of places to live and there will be no-one to service the town’s growing holiday accommodation sector.
Cllr Markus Campbell-Savours has called for a tally to be kept to get an accurate handle on a trend that is “growing and growing and growing” he said.
And Cllr Paul Titley has also warned that a family home is lost every time a change-of-use permission is granted by LDNPA planners.
He said: “At what point does somebody say stop?
“It will stop one day because we will just run out of properties and then there won’t be any staff to service them because they won’t have anywhere to live, and it will be a disaster for this town.”
He added: “I can’t understand why the national park and all the other major organisations supposedly overseeing the town are prepared to sit back and just watch it happen.”
Cllr Tony Lywood claimed the national park would find its work to support tourism “easier” if the entire indigenous population of the Lake District were to move out.
He said: “I do feel sometimes the way in which the national park runs it feels very much to me like Custer’s 7th cavalry and we are The Sioux.
“Perhaps it would be much better if they put us on a reservation maybe somewhere in Leeds or Burnley or Bolton, and then they wouldn’t get any objections and they could change everything they wanted to into a massive place where people could come and enjoy themselves and the landscape – and we would not be a thorn in their sides.”
The town council recently confirmed its objection to an application by a Keswick B&B to change its use into that of a holiday let.
The council wants the LDNPA to refuse the application for Number 10 Southey Street – but concedes it will be granted as it meets park policy.
Cllr Steve Harwood, who leads the town council’s three-member planning panel, called it “yet another” application.
He added that the town council is “uncomfortable” about the continued loss of residential housing stock too.
Cllr Harwood said: “Guesthouses are also the home of the proprietor and each change to off-site management results in the loss of a family home in Keswick which can have cumulative impact on the houses available for local needs.”
Mayor Alan Dunn said the council was aware that such applications were often approved by the LDNPA but the purpose of the town council lodging an objection was to try and make planners “think” about the long-term consequences for Keswick.
He stressed applicants were “not doing anything wrong and not breaking the law.”
The national park authority was asked to respond to the council’s comments.
It reissued a statement given last month in response to previous calls by Cllr Lywood, a national park member, to be more proactive.
It read: “Whilst acknowledging the problem and potential solutions outlined by Mr Lywood, the chief executive advised of the need to have an accurate picture of the problems and issues on holiday lets within all communities of the Lake District.
“Engagement and work was already under way on actions within the Lake District National Park Partnership’s Management Plan.
“In addition, a stand-alone decision as an authority would be needed and due consideration could be given to the issue at a future park strategy and vision committee with a view to delivering actions within our own business plan.”
Recently, Melbreak at 29 Church Street, was given the go-ahead to convert into two holiday lets, and there are applications in the pipeline for Avondale at 20 Southey Street; Yew Tree House at 28 Eskin Street; and Hazelmere on Crosthwaite Road.
In the last year, Chiltlee at 51 Helvellyn Street, Keswick, was given permission as was the Rowan Tree at 37 Eskin Street, Squirrel Lodge at 43 Eskin Street, and Ellergill, 22 Stanger Street.
The grounds of the objection are the potential for a “social and environmental impact” on neighbours because the accommodation would be managed “off site,” councillors said.
However, councillors have conceded that they expect the application to be granted by the LDNPA.
