Dales authority hits back at campaigners over tax row

The debate in recent weeks has centred around original proposals from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority which would see a Band D property land an annual council tax of £8,500.

The authority, however, is now asking the eight tax-setting local authorities within the park to strike an accord to open talks with the Government to explore what options are available for raising the tax on second homes within the park’s boundaries.

As opponents of the proposal, the Dales Home Owners Action Group, say it is “an affront to the legacy of the Dales’ most famous second home owner” the authority has hit back, saying the literary giant was inspired by the “strength and distinctiveness” of the community life it is seeking to protect.

“Many of our towns and villages already have too many second homes, and the number is increasing,” a spokesman said. “The effects on community life are clear for all to see. We have to take responsibility for the future – and try to attract families and retain more.

“We are not entirely comfortable with the second home owners’ action group using Alf Wight’s name to further their own position. But since they have, it might be pointed out to them that this literary giant was inspired by the strength and distinctiveness of community life in the Dales.”

The Dales Home Owners Action Group has written to Environment Secretary Michael Gove urging him to consider whether the authority has overstepped its statutory remit by promoting a tax rise. The group accuses the park authority of “allowing prejudice to cloud their judgement in protecting the economy of an area massively dependent on tourism”.

In their attacks on the proposal, the group said it was “an affront to the legacy of the Dales’ most famous second home owner, Alf Wight, aka James Herriot, who was responsible for injecting millions into the Dales”.

Mr Wight, whose main home was in Thirsk, bought a second home in the park at West Scrafton, Coverdale, in 1978 with proceeds from sales of his famous James Herriot tales of veterinary life and the subsequent television series All Creatures Great & Small.

The action group said: “Anyone following his lead by investing in or inheriting another home in the park is now being rewarded with the threat of punitive council tax hikes originally suggested as five times that of other residents.”

Mr Wight’s son, Jim, said the current arguments about whether there should be a tax rise on second homes has nothing to do with his father, but that he did not mind the group mentioning him.

“He was a second home owner and he did a huge amount for the Dales,” said Mr Wight, who inherited his father’s second home, as he went on to explain how he viewed the initial proposed tax rise of “at least five times”.

“It’s a phenomenal rise,” Mr Wight said. “Personally speaking instead of £2,000 a year I would have to pay £12,000 a year.

“If council tax was put up by 50 per cent across the country, there would be riots but it has been suggested that we may have to suffer a 500 per cent rise.”

The national park authority has suggested that a large tax increase on the 1,500 or so second homes in the Dales, could bring more homes back into full-time occupancy and would help address a lack of affordable housing.

Mr Wight said he understood why the authority had suggested the move, but that he believes there must be other options to a “punitive” tax rise.

“I see where they are coming from. There may be too many second homes in the Dales but I don’t think this is the way to address it. They could possibly be phased out instead and sold to local people. There will be a lot of people who have had these homes handed down through inheritance.”

Mr Wight has said he would not mind paying a little more in tax.

“I would be prepared to pay more than permanent residents because I consider it a privilege to live in such a place,” he said. “My basic feeling on this is that it’s the size of the uplift. It’s a smash and grab raid. If it was a 50 per cent rise, for me that would an extra £1,000. If every second home owner in the Dales paid the same, that would be £1.5m. Could that go to help young people get on to the housing ladder?

“They could limit the number of second homes in the Dales to a certain percentage in each parish, at the discretion of the local parish. It mustn’t be forgotten that a lot of second home owners let their houses out too and holiday makers come and spend their money.”