Flat banned from Airbnb-style use due to being outside the holiday area

Planners have clamped down on a flat being used as Airbnb-style accommodation in Blackpool partly because it is outside the holiday area.

Cherry Property Investment Ltd had appealed after a retrospective planning application to use ground floor premises on Harrowside in South Shore was refused by Blackpool Council.

Town hall planners had said the use of the two-bedroom accommodation for short-term lets should not be allowed because it was visitor accommodation outside the town centre, resort core or a defined holiday area.

This was despite the applicant saying the flat was used by people visiting Blackpool for conferences and work-related reasons, rather than as holiday-makers.

It was also feared the accommodation could lead to noise and disturbance for permanent residents of the rest of the property, although there was no evidence this was the case.

But an independent planning inspector rejected the appeal and upheld the council’s decision to refuse planning permission.

A report setting out the decision says apart from in exceptional circumstances council policies seek to “focus leisure and business tourism facilities, including new visitor accommodation, in the town centre, resort core and defined holiday accommodation areas” which do not include Harrowside.

The report adds: “Even if the occupiers of the flat were not holidaymakers, it would be occupied as a short-term let and the policy does not distinguish between the types of short-term occupation.

“Moreover, I have not been referred to any measures that could be employed to ensure that the accommodation would be occupied in a different manner to any visitors that may be holidaying.”

Blackpool Council leader Coun Lynn Williams has previously raised concerns about the spread of short-term let, or Airbnb-style, holiday accommodation in the town.

Its spread into residential areas has led to a rise in complaints about noise, while there are concerns about the relatively unregulated nature of the sector. Calls have been made for a national registration scheme for short-term lets.

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