Holiday homes are ‘hollowing out’ coastal areas, says MP

Labour MP Luke Pollard says Covid-19 has turbo-charged' housing crisis in rural and coastal towns

Coastal communities are being hollowed out irretrievably" by a surge in holiday homes, an MP has warned, as new figures showed more than 17,000 properties in England have been flipped" into short-term lets since Covid-19.

The poll came as MPs and campaign groups warned that vital public services - including schools, trains and buses - were in danger of vanishing from tourist hotspots due to a shortage of affordable homes.