Calls for more council control of ‘rowdy’ short term holiday lets

A Blackpool dad has told how his family is forced to sleep overnight in a camper van to escape rowdy holidaymakers staying in a resort short term holiday let.

The family, which has asked not to be identified due to fear of retaliation, says their lives have been made a misery since the next door property was converted to a short term holiday let.

Weekends mean the semi-detached house in a residential area of Bispham is a magnet for late-night parties with guests described as shouting into the early hours of the morning and using drugs such as cannabis.

The resident said: “The situation has impacted our family’s wellbeing to the extent we’ve repeatedly had to leave our own home just to get a proper night’s sleep, sometimes staying in hotels or even our camper van.

“On multiple occasions, we’ve been forced to sleep elsewhere during major holidays and weekends or half term etc.”

They added the property had become “a hotspot of loud parties, late-night shouting and frequent cannabis use in the garden” with the owner refusing to tackle the situation.

Hoteliers leaders in Blackpool are calling on the council to act more strongly against the spread of short term lets into residential areas – warning more residents could soon face the same situation.

Ian White, a director of hoteliers group StayBlackpool, said the issue in residential areas was impacting residents across the town as some of the properties attracted noisy guests.

He wants the council to crack down on the spread of short term lets so holiday accommodation is restricted to the traditional holiday areas of the town.

Mr White urged the council to use its planning powers to prevent “more residents being let down”.

He said in the Bispham case, the family had “suffered significantly due to the neighbouring property, and often had to go away at weekends to avoid their life being turned upside down.”

Council leader Coun Lynn Williams said the council’s planning enforcement team was taking action and there were currently around 40 enforcement cases on its complaints register relating to such accommodation.

In the last 18 months the number in Blackpool has dropped from 656 to 510. Of these 59 have successfully secured planning permission and 146 have closed down as a result of council action or other factors.

Coun Williams told the meeting: “The council has very significant concerns around the growth of short term holiday lets in residential areas. We all agree this has the potential to negatively impact massively the nature of communities and neighbourhoods.”

She said while good quality short term holiday lets were welcomed in the holidays areas and town centre, the council was reviewing how it could crack down on those having a negative impact on residential areas.

Short term holiday lets do require planning permission with applications considered on a case by case basis.