A new map is now pinpointing dozens of homes across the Keswick area which are intended for local occupancy use only.
Created online by the Lake District National Park Authority, it stems from a call last year for an official list of every property in Keswick with a local occupancy restriction.
It was asked for so that people in the town could quickly report breaches of the planning rules if local homes were being let out to holidaymakers.
It is dotted with dozens of homes from Keswick to Portinscale, Threlkeld, Braithwaite and Borrowdale, and allows browsers to hover over a property and then home in on past planning applications where local occupancy rules were applied.
A long time coming — the new tool has been hailed as a “great step forward” by Keswick county councillor Tony Lywood, although he has cautioned there are drawbacks too.
It does not feature former social housing sold by Allerdale Borough Council which may also have local occupancy restrictions, he said.
Cllr Adam Paxon feels the map is still incomplete and did not include homes in Windebrowe Avenue and Trinity Way or Millfield Gardens.
Cllr Lywood told a meeting of Keswick Town Council: “The only thing it doesn’t have are the houses sold some time ago which have a local occupancy condition on it, either by housing associations or the local authority because that work wasn’t done by the national park, it was done by the sellers who sold the houses.
“I have asked the national park to contact the local authority and have that information overlaid on the map so we can have a complete picture of all the houses in Keswick subject to a local occupancy condition.
“It is still a work in progress. It is better than what we had, which was nothing. What we can assume is that nearly all local authority houses will have a local occupancy clause on them — not all of them, but most.”
Keswick Community Housing Trust called last week for people in the town to come forward and report instances where houses with local occupancy clauses are being let out to tourists, encouraging them to send examples to [email protected]
Cllr Lywood urged people to do so. “I hope that any person in the town who feels that local occupancy houses are being used as holiday lets will come forward and let us, or indeed the Lake District National Park Authority know, so we can deal with it.”
The meeting heard there had been calls for national park planning officials to attend a meeting of the town council but they replied to say they did not have capacity at the moment but would do so when “things have eased”.
Cllr Paul Titley said: “We have to stop putting up with this excuse that it’s because of COVID. I’ve heard this for two years. Absolutely everything cannot be done because of COVID.”
Cllr Steve Harwood said attempts would be made to have the park authority attend a meeting to discuss its policy towards holiday lets after a spate of
recent applications in Keswick.
The map is available on the national park website via www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/planning/applicationsanddecisions/occupancy-restriction-webmap
