YORKSHIRE Dales National Park leaders are looking at a dramatic 500 per cent rise in council tax on second homes – bringing average bills up to £8,500 a year in a bid to attract families to the area.

The move is proposed in a special report which is urging members to push through the plan, press for backing from other councils and secure government support for a five year pilot scheme.

The report by the national park's chief executive David Butterworth warns the rising number of second homes has pushed up house prices beyond the reach of local people, placing an unsustainable strain on schools and has caused young people to move away.

Around 22 per cent of the housing stock across the park is second homes and holiday homes. While the report says holiday homes do bring economic benefit, it argues second homes largely do not and while around 65 new homes are being built each year, around 90 are being turned into second homes or holiday lets.

It says: "This is clearly a radical and controversial approach but there are many who believe it is now worth pursuing because everything else that has been tried over the last 20 years has had limited or no impact in tackling the long-term decline of remote rural areas.

“The overall effect of second homes has been dramatic pushing up house prices beyond the reach of local people, reducing money circulating within the local economy and taking the demand for local services such as primary schools to a level where local authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to justify on-going provision.”

Around 26 per cent of the park’s population is over 65, compared to a national average of 16 per cent, and average house prices are £253,000. Members are being recommended at the authority’s meeting on December 19 to support the plan and ask the five district and three county councils responsible for council tax in the park to take it to the government.