Councillors have re-approved a second home council tax premium in North Yorkshire despite calls for it to be scrapped.
North Yorkshire Council has voted to keep its 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes, a year after first introducing the policy.
Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive member for finance and deputy leader of the council, said he was “very proud indeed” of the scheme, which has raised around £10 million, all of which is ringfenced for housing projects.
However, speaking at a full meeting of the council on Friday, January 13, independent Filey councillor Sam Cross said that “anybody who thinks second home taxation will solve everything is living in cloud cuckoo land”.
Cllr Cross added: “Almost every day I’m contacted by holiday and second home owners who can’t afford to pay their council tax, and people are moving to Bridlington because of it.
“I think it’s totally wrong and until we have some proper consultations, I’ll be voting against this.”
The leader of the Labour group on NYC, Cllr Steve Shaw-Wright, added: “If anyone’s moving from Filey to Bridlington to avoid second homes council tax, they’ve got a rude awakening, as it started last April.”
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s website states that from April 2025, “if your property is a second home, your council tax bill may increase by 100 per cent. This is known as the second home premium.”
North Yorkshire was one of the first areas in the country to progress with adopting the new measures and aims to encourage owners to bring unused properties into full‑time occupation as well as to increase the supply of homes available to local residents.
According to figures published by the National Housing Federation last year, there are more than 8,000 second homes in North Yorkshire – the highest number in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Cllr Andy Brown, Green Party, said: “I think the best decision this council has taken was to impose a second homes premium.
“We want first homes, not second homes, and there are tourist locations in this county where the people living in the tourist industry can’t afford to live there.”
Independent, Cllr Andrew Williams, said that Cllr Cross had his priorities “completely and utterly wrong”.
He told the full meeting: “My sympathies lie with those young people struggling to get on the housing ladder or who are homeless. My heart doesn’t bleed for anyone struggling to make ends meet, running a second or holiday home – get real.”
Despite welcoming the proposal, councillors said the ringfencing of funds exclusively for housing-related schemes should be re-examined to take into account the impact on amenities and infrastructure.
Cllr Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, an independent representing Hunmanby, said that despite living three miles from Filey, “no one has contacted me about second homes”.
“The fact that the first amount of money is to be spent where I live in Hunmanby, this council can’t avoid the fact that it needs to consider using some of the money on infrastructure,” she told council bosses.
She added: “It’s very laudable to ringfence 100 per cent of it, but the road on which you are doing it is literally crumbling away.”
“I can’t explain to residents how NYC is contributing to the strain on infrastructure, but it doesn’t have the money to actually support the infrastructure.”
Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive member for finance and deputy leader of the council, said he was “very proud indeed that the scheme has raised £10-12 million and is going just outside [Cllr Cross’] division, and that’s something to be celebrated”.
Leader of the authority, Cllr Carl Les, said he was also “very proud that we’ve introduced the second homes council tax and that I believe we’re the only council in England that is only using that income for housing specifically, and not just for the general budget”.
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