Seaside villagers say there’s only 14 of them left due to ‘selfish second home owners’

11 comments

1. Tenner says the people in the article moaning are the same kind of people who oppose any housebuilding near them.

2. Predominantly unoccupied houses should be taxed by local councils to a point where the income generated for them is greater than it would be if it were occupied. Then the excess funds they generate should be used to boost the local economy and infrastructure.

3. I’d like to see 10x council tax on second homers tbh. Especially those that leave their properties empty.

4. Entire villages here in North Wales become ghost towns in the winter due to holiday homes. Locals driven away, unable to afford housing. Something has to change

5. Who sold all those houses to rich second-home owners, instead of young locals looking for an affordable place to live?

6. Increase second home council tax. Second home is double, third is triple etc.

   Problem will correct itself over time

7. So they want the life of a properous economy, but expect fishing and minimal tourism to fund it in 2024?

8. I’d still rather live at a seaside rather than a town with mass unemployment, homelessness and drug addiction. If they’re not happy, then they should move somewhere else and quit whining.

9. These articles always focus on the second home owners who came in and bought up the housing stock. They rarely talk about who *sold* them those houses.

   A community can keep itself together if people sell their houses to other locals and their children, or people from the surrounding area. If they *choose* to sell to rich outsiders wanting second homes and price the other locals and their families out of the area to make more money then we end up with this.

10. At the bottom of the article there are people saying the place isn’t practical to live in anyway. The amenities in a holiday locale are great for holidaymakers but kinda crappy for modern day to day life.

    If they got rid of the holiday homes the place would have to contend with a lack of industry (tourism) on top of needing to put infrastructure in to support people living there (school, GP, shops, dentist….)

11. Love Runswick Bay. Quite sad really that locals are getting priced out of the places they’ve called home for possibly generations.

    Although it is also probably true that living in a tiny, poorly serviced historic village like Runswick Bay isn’t generally practical in a modern economy.