CONCERNS have been raised that a shortage of housing in the county’s rural areas is worsening due to properties being turned into holiday accommodation.

It is claimed that this is increasingly a problem in Ludlow and south Shropshire.

Shropshire Council has now promised to look into the problem, after councillors reported tenants being asked to leave their homes by landlords seeking to cash in on the ‘staycation’ boom.

Councillor Heather Kidd, who represents Chirbury and Worthen, raised the issue at a meeting of the full council as the authority agreed the council tax base, the number of band D equivalent properties in each town and parish, for the coming financial year.

The figures showed the tax base in Chirbury with Brompton parish had shrunk by two properties since the 2021/22 tax base was set, a situation mirrored in other rural areas across the county including Buildwas, Great Hanwood, Kinnerley and Nash.

Councillor Kidd said: “The council tax base for my particular rural area is going down because we are having whole properties taken out and turned into holiday homes because of the ‘staycation’ issue that’s reared its head during the pandemic.

’“I have nothing against people developing holiday accommodation but the conversion of existing homes into holiday accommodation is something that’s hit Cornwall, the Lake District, a number of different areas.

Liberal Democrat councillor Viv Parry, who represents Ludlow South, said she had also been approached by residents about the issue.

She said: “We are having an awful lot of problems in Ludlow with holiday homes and second homes.

“We are finding that people who have been in some of these houses… are being asked to leave their homes as [their landlords] want to make them into holiday homes so they can charge more.”

Councillor Parry said the problem would in turn put added pressure on the county’s social housing sector and the council, with more and more people in need of somewhere to live as private rentals are removed from the market.