Countryside campaigning charity CPRE has given a warm welcome to Michael Gove’s clampdown on short lets.

Last week Housing Secretary Gove announced that councils will be given greater power to control future short-term lets by making them subject to planning consent.

Meanwhile, a new mandatory national register will give local authorities the information they need about short-term lets in their area, and the government suggests this “will help councils understand the extent of short-term lets in their area, the effects on their communities, and underpin compliance with key health and safety regulations.”

Existing homeowners will effectively get retrospective planning consent and will still be able to let out their own main or sole home without planning consent but only for up to 90 nights throughout a year.

Generation Rent and other activist groups, along with the Labour Party, have given qualified support to the clampdown and now they have been joined by Paul Miner, head of campaigns and policy at CPRE.

He says: “These new planning rules are good news for rural communities. Everyone deserves a home they can afford to live in. 

“But the recent surge in short-term lets has prevented people in the countryside from finding housing they can afford to buy or rent, and in some cases local workers have been turfed out of their rented accommodation.

“We have long led calls on the government to introduce a second home and short-term lets register, with local authorities having the power to regulate the provision of short-term lets and to levy extra council tax on second homes. It’s pleasing to see the government has finally done the right thing by introducing these changes.

“Our own research shows that the explosion in the number of homes marketed for Airbnb-style short-term lets is strangling rural communities. The worsening housing crisis is felt most acutely in rural areas which is why we’ve been calling for rapid action from the government.

“We want everyone in the countryside to have a fair chance in life, whatever their circumstances. To make this a reality, we need to ensure there are enough low cost homes to rent or buy in our villages and market towns.”