Pringle Homes - PLANNING INCONSISTENCY FOR HOLIDAY HOMES | 19th November, 2008

PLANNING INCONSISTENCY FOR HOLIDAY HOMES

Second home-owners can take advantage of a planning anomaly where properties in an area of outstanding natural beauty have been designated holiday properties.

A local occupancy clause in neighbouring villages in the Lake District National Park prevents visitors from buying newly built property.

The Section 106 agreement stops new properties from being sold as holiday homes, to prevent prices escalating beyond reach of local people.

Yet buyers in nearby Silverdale village have snapped up 11 from a collection of prestigious holiday homes, where planners insist they can only be sold as holiday homes.

Hazelwood Hall, a historic property with panoramic views across ancient woodland, with landscaped gardens by the celebrated Victorian landscape-architect Thomas Mawson, has been restored by developer Pringle Homes.

Now Silverdale will benefit from investment into the local economy by second-home owners, which is believed to total £1.5 billion in Britain’s rural areas.

Mark Fleuriot, Pringle’s Managing Director said: “The planning anomaly can be confusing to buyers who can’t buy new property in the Lake District National Park, yet in Silverdale, planners insist Hazelwood Hall must only be holiday homes."

“They say they want cottages in the village of Silverdale to be kept for locals so Hazelwood Hall can be marketed to second home owners only. The development has attracted buyers from as far away as Jersey.”

More than half the homes at Hazelwood Hall have been sold, where prices start from £275,000 for a two bedroom apartment, to £330,000 for a three bedroom apartment.

For further information about the development, which is on sale as second homes, not principal residences, homebuyers can contact the marketing suite, which is open Thursday to Sunday, 11am – 4pm, call 01524 701976, or visit www.hazelwoodhall.co.uk