Scilly 'accommodation crisis' as tourism takes homes

Key workers on the Isles of Scilly are unable to find anywhere to live as more properties are turned into tourist accommodation, it has been claimed.

Paul Masters, chief executive of the Council of the Isles of Scilly, said there was an "accommodation crisis".

The number of people living on the islands was also dwindling which was causing workforce issues, he said.

Some pubs and restaurants were closing for the winter, mainly due to a lack of staff, he said.

Tourism had provided a boost to the islands, which were reliant on the business, but it had also led to a lack of housing, he said.

"There are many more people letting out properties, making money by using them as Airbnbs or whatever, and who can blame them?

"But that is reducing the amount of available accommodation for key workers and is increasing the housing crisis," the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported him saying.

Mr Masters told the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership board: "I have no home for an air traffic controller, no home for a social worker or an environmental health officer.

"There is no shortage of work for people to work on the islands, but there is nowhere for them to stay."

He said the islands' population of about 2,000 had been "gradually declining and ageing, similar to Cornwall, but more".

There was a "danger" that there could be accommodation available for visitors but no catering businesses, he said.

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