A damning report has shown that rural communities are being 'strangled' by the huge rise in properties being used as short-term holiday lets, with an almost 1000% increase nationally since 2015.
Research by CPRE, The Countryside Charity, found that the increase in rural staycation hotspots had occurred while the number of families waiting on social housing lists was 176,000.
Though the problem is present around the UK, Northumberland, which is described as a 'holiday honeypot,' is suffering particularly badly along with other popular tourist destinations such as Cornwall, Devon and South Lakeland.
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Jen Hall lives in Beadnell and feels there are too many holiday lets in the village, which are having a knock-on effect on the community and families who live in the area.
Jen said: "Over the last 20 years in particular, the number of properties that have migrated from second homes or permanent residence homes to commercial holiday lets has skyrocketed. They're bought as very lucrative investments which have forced up house prices."
Commercial holiday lets are able to claim small business rate relief and do not have to pay council tax or parish precept, limiting the amount of money going to both parish and county councils.
Figures show that across the entire Northumberland Coast AONB, which runs from Berwick down to Amble, that 1093 properties are registered as holiday let businesses, with 715 receiving small business rate relief.
A Freedom of Information Request (FOI) to Northumberland County Council showed that 31% of all properties in Beadnell were holiday homes in 2021, with 23% of the 783 properties in the village not paying council tax, business rates, or parish precept.
The other side of the coin is not just that house prices are being forced up, but there is a lack of social and affordable housing in the area - though that is something local businesswoman Rachel Douglas is looking to change.
Rachel, who runs cleaning businesses Home from Home Housekeeping and The Laundry Lodge, launched a petition to Northumberland County Council in January raising concerns about the affordability and availability of affordable homes to rent and buy on the north Northumberland Coast, and hopes that this will result in an estate each in Seahouses and Beadnell for purely social and affordable housing.
Rachel said: "It's been more than a decade since the last meaningful development of any social or affordable housing in the Beadnell, Seahouses and Bamburgh area, which is quite shocking to be honest.
" The percentage of second homes and holiday homes is just going up and up and up so as a community we’re starting to suffer because our families can’t live in the village, businesses are starting to suffer because no families live in the village, there isn’t a pool of staff for the businesses.
"I've got a double-edged sword. My business solely relies on tourism, we manage holiday lets, and we turn down on average three new owners a week between February and October who asking us to take their house on to clean.
"The local services can no longer ac commodate the properties are there because we don't have the staff.
"Yes we rely on tourism, but if we haven’t got a community here to support the tourism, there’s going to be nothing for the visitors to come to."
However, not everybody is against holiday lets. Michael Dawson, the owner of the Craster Arms, said: "As someone who works in the hospitality industry, I can't complain about the influx of tourists because they're my livelihood. People forget that they are the driving force of the economy, without a doubt. I'm not going to gripe, as far as I'm concerned they're very welcome.
"Obviously, there are challenges and difficulties regarding houses, traffic management and car parking, and there's a lot of pressure on the area, which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But it is a wonderful industry that the majority of people depend upon.
"It's like a bubble up here. We know people buy houses and turn them into holiday lets as they're so attractive to investors. With the new neighbourhood plan, there are measures in place to control and curtail that."
The neighbourhood plan in Beadnell stipulates that any new builds have to be for permanent residents. However, that doesn't affect the holiday lets and second homes which are already operating in the village.
Rachel continued: "The neighbourhood plan is there, but it's got holes and how does it get policed? It's okay saying any new builds have to be for permanent residents, but there haven't been any. The neighbourhood plan isn't effective on the houses that are already here."
Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of CPRE, has called for a response from the Government. He said: "‘There simply has to be a government response to the fact that our rural housing supply is disappearing into an unregulated short-term rentals market that simply didn’t exist six years ago.
"It’s clear the government needs to act fast to avert a growing housing crisis. With the cost of living set to hammer people’s finances in the coming year, this is a problem that’s quickly getting out of hand.
"Across our most traditional rural communities, homes that used to be rented to local families sit empty for much of the year. Hard-working people are suffering and they will not easily forgive a government that promised to level them up if it leaves them falling through the cracks of a broken system."
A spokesman for Northumberland County Council said: "The County Council is well aware of residents' concerns about the numbers of properties being used as holiday lets in Beadnell and other areas in Northumberland.
"Unfortunately planning permission is not required to change an existing house into a holiday-let or a second home. As a County Council we do have powers in relation to newly built houses and if there is the evidence to justify it, we can restrict the occupation of them so they are only used as permanent homes.
"The new county-wide Local Plan enables this type of restriction to be put in place, in areas where there is clear evidence about the amount of second homes and holiday-lets in an area. We can then look to see if this is causing problems to the local community.
"The County Council is doing rolling research on the issue of holiday and second homes and the new Local Plan proposes to require all new dwellings to be occupied only as a 'principal residence' in any parish where, according to the latest Census, at least 20% of the housing stock is not being used as someone's main home. The results of the 2021 Census are expected shortly and we will be making a policy statement as soon as we have been able to analyse the new data.
"In Beadnell the picture is already clearer. The Census 2011 identified that, across the County, 6.4% of household spaces had no usual residents. In a number of coastal parishes, the proportion exceeded 40%, with Beadnell in excess of 50%. In Beadnell the Neighbourhood Plan also reinforces this issue with a “Primary Residence” policy, we will use this to restrict the occupancy of new homes."
