Many residents, schools and businesses across Hastings and Rye have raised with me the impact of the sudden growth in holiday lets post-Covid, preventing local people from being able to rent or buy a home where they were born and grew up or where they work, and the difficulties of recruiting staff because of a lack of affordable homes. My own daughter, wanting to live and work locally, felt as if she was being shut out of the local housing market and denied the opportunity to rent or buy in the community she grew up in because of the cost and lack of properties available in Rye.
So, hearing these pleas, I got on with the job of finding a solution. As chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Coastal Communities, in 2022 inquiry sessions we explored the issues surrounding holiday lets and the need for tourism growth in coastal communities, and how we could prevent the ‘hollowing out’ of our communities whilst ensuring tourism and hospitality businesses flourish. I met with Michael Gove, the housing secretary, and also engaged extensively with the think tank, Onward, early last year in its searching report ‘Troubled Waters: Tackling the Crisis on England’s Coast’. This report, published in September last year, included a number of my concerns, such as addressing the issue of holiday lets in popular coastal communities and the need for additional government funding to build seasonal resilience and capacity in coastal police forces because of a surge in population during summer months, which increases crime and antisocial behaviour – we all know about the issues in Camber during hot summer days.
Hastings and Rye is a tourist hub within 1066 Country, and based on the most recent figures for 1066 Country, tourism supports more than 12,600 jobs locally, with an estimated turnover of £550 million per year. This is a very important industry to us and to our local tourism businesses, including retail and hospitality, as well as increasing passengers on trains, helping to keep our Marshlink running. We therefore need the right balance to ensure both local people and our visitor economy can thrive.
Last month, Mr Gove introduced significant measures relating to holiday lets and planning permission. The changes aim to protect communities, address housing availability, protect local residents from being pushed out of their communities by excessive short-term lets, and ensure safety.
Under the reforms, councils will be given greater power to control short-term lets by requiring holiday lets to obtain planning permission. I support this measure – it is what I suggested – to give local councils more control over the number of holiday let properties that a local community can sustain without hollowing them out. This will support local people in areas where high numbers of short-term lets are preventing them from finding housing they can afford to buy or rent. Short-term lets are a significant part of the UK’s visitor economy and provide increased choice and flexibility for tourists and business travellers and to recognise this, homeowners will still be able to let out their own main or sole home for up to 90 nights throughout a year without planning permission.
In addition, a new mandatory national register will give local authorities the information they need about short-term lets in their area. This will help councils understand the extent of short-term lets in their area, the effects on their communities, and underpin compliance with key health and safety regulations. The government is also considering how to apply the register, so it does not apply disproportionate regulation for example on property owners that let out their home infrequently.
These proposals will give Hastings and Rye greater control over future growth of holiday lets.
In addition, the issue of antisocial behaviour associated with short-term lets, such as fly-tipping, noisy parties, and other disturbances, is also being addressed, and the proposed changes aim to strike a balance between promoting tourism and ensuring the well-being of local residents.
I am pleased that the government has listened to our collective concerns as this shows that it has acknowledged the problem and has demonstrated its commitment to finding a solution.
On a separate note, I visited the landslide above Military Road last week and have secured a meeting with the Defra minister to discuss a way forward. My column in this week’s (March 8) Hastings St Leonards and Rye Observer goes into more detail.
Image Credits: Sally-Ann Hart MP .
Sadly, your response to the holiday lets/second homes is too little and too late. I grew up in the Hastings and Rye area during the 1960’s and returned to live in the lovely Old Town of Hastings in 2009. Within 2 years, there was a sharp decline in local fishing/working families living locally and a massive incline of wealthy incomers from London, Brighton, Tunbridge Wells etc. These people did very little towards maintaining the community, instead rejoicing in the ‘cheap’ properties that they were able to snap up. In the Old Town we have far too many empty houses – second homes, and over 60 air b&b dwellings. This appalling situation should have been monitored from the very beginning and the local families able to remain in the place they were born and grew up. Greed has destroyed our precious communities.