A PROPOSAL to significantly increase council tax on second homes in the Yorkshire Dales has effectively been “killed off” after it was narrowly rejected by a council.

Richmondshire District Council voted 13 to 12 against joining with other local authorities to seek talks with Westminster on whether they could significantly increase tax on second homes in the national park.

Tuesday night’s vote followed a proposal by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to increase council tax up to five times for second home owners in a bid to reverse the decline of young people in the region and encourage working age people and families back into the dales. The national park has 1,500 second homes and in some parishes they make up more than a quarter of all homes.

Members of the national park authority voted in December to put the proposal to central Government, who would possibly have to alter legislation to allow it. But it would require the support of local councils.

The park authority chairman, Carl Lis, said: “It would be remiss of me not to make clear to the public that the proposition to talk to Government has in effect been killed off. In my view, the decision has let down local communities by stopping the conversation before it had properly started.

“Richmondshire District Council has rejected the view that too many second homes can have an adverse impact on the viability of local communities. It has also rejected the view that there are too many second homes in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. I think many people living in the National Park will be staggered by those conclusions.

“It’s interesting to note that opponents to this simple proposition to have a conversation with Government on the second homes issue in the National Park have not put forward any of their own suggestions on what we should do to address it. What level of unoccupied and under occupied homes in our Dales villages do they think will present a problem, 20 per cent, 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 50 per cent?”

He said the effect it was having on local communities wasn’t “to go away”, adding: “it is a source of sadness to me that all we have done is to pass these problems to the next generation to sort out.”

But a group representing second home owners, the Dales Home Owners Action Group, welcomed the council’s decision, saying it was an “ill-conceived exercise” which had already caused serious damage to the Dales’ economy.

A Dales Homeowners Action Group spokesman said: “It is a triumph for common sense and effectively kills off an ill-conceived exercise which has already caused serious damage to the fragile Dales’ economy.

“We have evidence of at least £300,000’s worth of improvement work being postponed or cancelled with local builders because of the uncertainty created by this politically-motivated and vindictive attempt at social engineering.

“House sales have been stalled and there’s been a human cost with some people seeing their life’s work put at risk. Those responsible for causing fear and division in the Dales’ communities should not only examine their consciences, but their suitability for public office.

“What can be salvaged is an opportunity for people to work together for the common good. We look forward to putting this episode behind us and engaging in constructive dialogue about the future of the national park.”

Richmondshire District Council leader, Cllr Yvonne Peacock said she thought the vote had resulted in a “missed opportunity” to raise the problems they were facing with the Government, but the vote had drawn a line under the proposal and they had to move on.

Cllr Peacock said she would have liked to have seen extra money raised spent on keeping schools open in the dales, while they worked on attracting more families to the area.

She said: “Now we have to work on all the other solutions in attracting families to live in the area. We need Government to take note that the Richmond side of the national park is in decline; we haven’t got enough people of working age.”

Cllr Peacock said they would now have to look at building more homes in the dales, but they were facing a difficult task persuading developers to do this.

“The next step has to be to build more homes.

“I’ve spoken to a few developers – everyone wants more homes built – but no one wants to go through the rigmarole of building in a national park. It’s not the fault of the national park – they wanted to build 325 homes across the whole park in a year. They had it in the last plan and the plan before that. But getting it to happen is so difficult in a national park.

“A fortnight ago we approved five homes; the national park wanted them, the district council wanted them, the parish council and the majority of the community wanted them, but we’ve been threatened with a judicial review over that decision.”