South Hams District Council has today announced that it has no choice but to declare a Housing Crisis.

The District is reassuring residents that it does have a five-year supply of land for housing and adopted Joint Local Plan with Plymouth and West Devon, and an adopted Housing Strategy that they consulted on last year, but local leaders say that due to recent events, there is just not enough properties for local people and those people wanting to work in the District.

Cllr Judy Pearce Leader of South Hams District Council said: “We are all very aware of the problems that have been created this summer because so many properties have been turned into Airbnb’s. We have every sympathy with people wanting to come and visit the South Hams, but we have to look at the sustainable future of our district, and if people can’t afford to live here for work, then the system is going to break down.

"We can’t have innumerable tourists here if there is nobody here to service the businesses that they are using."

Last week Dartmouth town councillors were urged to lobby the Government for more affordable homes in Dartmouth – to stop millionaires turning the town into the next Salcombe.

Salcombe Community Land Trust, just one of the many groups in the South Hams trying to help residents out of this crisis and provide an affordable housing solution said: “Salcombe is now experiencing the scenario of property owners exploiting the inflated property market to sell at a profit, making long term tenants homeless in the process.

"We know for certain that property in Salcombe has recently been sold, making the long term tenants homeless, as they are unable to rent from the new owners, whom, we believe, are looking to get the high rates achievable through Air BnB.

"The tenants have been unable to find another property in Salcombe or even nearby, meaning that they could be forced to leave the area entirely.

"The children go to Salcombe primary school and Kingsbridge Community College so there is a knock-on effect there as well, as well as our local businesses losing valued members of staff."

"This is just one of three immediate cases in Salcombe that are housing emergencies created by opportunist selling of properties at this time of exorbitant prices."

Salcombe Community Land Trust is currently trying to deliver 21 socially affordable rented properties, but these properties, together with the affordable rented properties in the new Salcombe based Park Green development (currently going through planning), will not address this immediate problem, not least because they will not be available for 3 years minimum, and the problem is only going to going to get worse.

The steps SHDC have outlined to address the crisis are:

1 Lobby government through our MPs and the LGA to allow council tax to be charged on plots with planning permission after a determined period, even if they haven’t been built out, so that developers are encouraged to build out sites without delay.

2 Lobby government through our MPs and the LGA to review the regulation of holiday accommodation, to ensure all holiday accommodation is suitably regulated and made subject to local planning policies and taxes. We should also appeal for an extension to the 90-day short term let legislation to be extended outside London and lobby MHCLG for a separate planning class for short term lets and a proper licensing system to cater for them..

3 Institute an immediate thorough review by the council of all holiday lettings in the District, including, but not restricted to, whether they have planning permission, whether they are paying council tax or business rates, as appropriate, for the accommodation, whether they comply with safety regulations, and to ensure they are paying appropriately for waste disposal.

4 Ask the JLP Team to review the thresholds and percentages of affordable housing on sites, and whether it would be appropriate at the Plan Revision to increase these so that the percentage of First Homes imposed by the government becomes in addition to the present 30% affordable homes rather than part of it.

5 Promote regular Landlord Forums and run a further campaign to publicise the advantages to landlords of Seamoor Lettings.

6 Work closely with our main Registered Providers to ensure best occupancy of stock, so that where tenants are prepared to downsize, not only are they given a priority banding to be able to access a smaller property but support to help them move available.

7 Use some of the affordable housing reserve to increase payments made to anyone downsizing to help make moving more attractive and affordable.

8 Use any Section 106 affordable housing contributions as soon as possible to help fund developments anywhere in the District where the terms of the Section 106 Agreement permit this.

9 Campaign for changes to the Broad Market Area to better reflect the costs of rents in the South Hams.

10. Promote the development of an exemplar site of low carbon

Read more in next week’s paper.