Stephen Morgan MP has backed plans to introduce a licensing system for holiday lets to protect “the spirit and fabric” of communities in coastal and rural areas, while allowing them to “reap the rewards of thriving tourism”.
Announced by Labour’s Shadow Levelling Up & Housing Secretary Lisa Nandy, the plan will allow genuine holiday lets to be identified and help crack down on second homeowners who leave properties empty while pretending to rent them out to holidaymakers.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced plans in Wales to introduce a statutory licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation, including short-term holiday lets, to help raise standards across the tourism industry.
Nandy has pledged to “tilt power back to those people with a stake in the outcome and skin in the game” with a similar scheme for coastal and rural communities in England.
Nandy also said that the Conservative leadership contest has exposed that “the Tories’ commitment to levelling up is dead”.
But she declared that “levelling up is not dead, not for the millions who voted for change”, and vowed that “Labour is going to meet this moment”.
She announced plans to put local people “back in charge” with a powerful new Community Right to Buy, giving communities the opportunity to take control of pubs, historic buildings and football clubs that come up for sale or fall into disrepair. At present, local groups only have the right to bid for such assets.
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“With a stronger licensing system, communities across Portsmouth and the country will be able to reap the rewards of thriving tourism while ending the scourge of communities becoming ghost towns when holidays end, and stop people being priced out of their own neighbourhoods just for homes to stand empty for months on end.
“By trusting the community, working with the community, we can find the right balance – bringing growth, jobs and income, but protecting the spirit and fabric of a community that matters so much.”
Labour’s powerful new Right to Buy will mean communities have first refusal on such assets when they come up for sale, including the right to buy them without competition.
To ensure communities can make the most of this new right, a Labour government will also improve the Community Ownership Fund to ensure seed capital is available for communities to generate revenue so they can invest in their town, village or city, and ensure the proceeds of growth benefit those who live there. The time period for communities to raise finance to buy assets of community value will also be doubled from six months to 12.
Mark Gregory, the former Chief Economist of Ernst & Young, will lead a commission to explore how community groups can best leverage private investment to buy assets; how a fund can best support communities; and what safeguards need to be put in place.
