Second homes: a new framework for policy

The impacts of second homes in the English countryside have concerned academics and policy makers since at least the 1960s. Often they are thought of as one of the numerous drivers of social exclusion in the countryside, and this has prompted periodic assessments of how changing policy frameworks might be used to address the 'second home problem'. Mark Shucksmith's 1983 paper - 'Second homes: a framework for policy' - was the first comprehensive attempt to link the repercussions of second home concentrations with potential policy responses. This current paper updates Shucksmith's framework, drawing on recent work for the Countryside Agency in England, and argues that both planning powers and fiscal controls should be directed at assisting communities affected by second home concentrations.