Crackdown on Airbnbs in tourist hotspots branded 'anti-business'

Crackdown on Airbnbs in tourist hotspots branded ‘anti-business’ by critics as ministers insist plans to make homeowners get planning permission to rent our short-term holiday lets are ‘pro-community’

• Would require owners hoping to rent out property apply for planning permission
• Changes to prevent locals being ‘pushed out’ of desirable areas in housing crisis

Proposals to crack down on Airbnbs in tourist hotspots were last night accused of being ‘anti-business’ as a split emerged in the Conservative Party.

Yesterday the Levelling Up Secretary laid out a planning permission scheme for homeowners hoping to rent out short-term holiday lets.

The changes were aimed at stemming the housing crisis and preventing locals being ‘pushed out’ of desirable areas, Michael Gove said. 

But his predecessor Simon Clarke labelled the policy anti-business and added: ‘So many of our interventions in the housing market… stem from our failure to build enough homes.’

Former Cabinet minister Lord Frost agreed, saying: ‘In the end all these palliatives for the symptoms won’t deal with the underlying problem which is that we need to build more houses.’ 

Yesterday the Levelling Up Secretary laid out a planning permission scheme for homeowners hoping to rent out short-term holiday lets. The changes were aimed at stemming the housing crisis and preventing locals being ‘pushed out’ of desirable areas, Michael Gove (pictured) said

But his predecessor Simon Clarke (pictured) labelled the policy anti-business and added: ‘So many of our interventions in the housing market… stem from our failure to build enough homes’

But last night Tory MPs rejected his view and said it was necessary to give communities more control.

Nickie Aiken, MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, said the proposals were ‘not anti-business, but pro-community’. 

Selaine Saxby, who represents North Devon – a constituency which has suffered from Airbnb’s popularity – said locals have had difficulties ‘finding anywhere to live, or… have been evicted so landlords can flip properties to holiday let’.

Other critics of the plan said it was either not enough or too little, too late, especially as current owners will not need permission under the proposals.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the action came ‘far too late’.

He added: ‘Ministers need to change the planning law now to save more local communities from turning into ghost towns.’

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