The housing crisis fuelling widespread staffing shortages in the Lake District will not spark more house building in the national park, a leading member has said.
Michael Carter, deputy chairman of the Lake District National Park Authority, told a recent meeting of the full authority that while the problem was acute, the park could not “build its way” out of the problem.
Mr Carter gave an update to the authority having attended a recent seminar organised by Cumbria’s Local Enterprise Partnership, which is behind efforts to stimulate economic growth in the county and is marketing it as a place to “live, work and invest”.
A presentation was given at the LEP seminar about the problems faced by employers filling jobs countywide, which was causing “huge concern”, said Mr Carter.
He said: “I did make the point that in the national park, building our way out of the housing shortage is not an option, because much of the presentation seemed to be leading in the direction of we must support more building.”
Mr Carter said the issue was a countywide problem and that there was a “lot of support” at the seminar around taking action to limit second homes, but “less support” for reducing the number of holiday lets.
In any event, an action plan was being prepared, he said, and the LDNPA needed to provide input as it had “major concerns” about the impact of both second homes and holiday lets.
One of the main issues has been the loss of places to rent to the local workforce as landlords switch to provide self-catering holiday lets, which has led to shortages of places to live for local employees.
Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said there were more than 8,100 holiday lets across Cumbria but less than 240 places for long-term rent.
Tiffany Hunt MBE, the newly-appointed chairwoman of the national park, pointed out that the Local Enterprise Partnership’s role did not extend to building more houses or creating new forms of accommodation, but a role it could play was to bring “influence to bear” about the problem in Cumbria.
Tony Lywood, a Keswick town councillor, said: “The truth is that the LEP is indeed for local enterprise and less for community. The problem is, if you allow holiday lets to take over completely then there will be no staff to run those local enterprises.
“Holiday lets are great as they bring tourists and money. The problem comes when the number of holiday lets begins to erode the community in which they exist. We are at that point now in Keswick.”