Our seaside town has been ruined by holiday lets… it used to be idyllic & full of young families but now it’s depressing

FUMING residents say their idyllic seaside town has been ruined by “surreal” holiday rentals – and they have driven young families away.

With stone houses, cobbled streets and winding country lanes, Staithes is the most northerly village in Yorkshire.

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The village has become a victim of its own success – rich outsiders have snapped up second homes and holiday apartments.

Most of the young families in the area have moved from the pretty village to new housing developments on the outskirts.

Staithes has now lost both post offices and the village school has been razed.

Mother-of-two Kerry Parkes told the tester: “There are a lot of vacation rentals, that’s sad.”

“What’s really sad is the people who have it as a second home but never come.”

“Most of the year they sit empty and fall into disrepair. That’s a shame.”

“If you go down in the winter there’s not a lot of light on in the huts and it’s a bit surreal really.”

Lifelong resident Vanessa Ditchburn, 53, said: “If people here are just holidaying, that’s not the same as people living here, is it?”

But not all villagers are optimistic about the influx of second home owners.

Pub chef Luke Gilmour, 42, said tourists keep him in his job – and that Staithes is the “ideal holiday village”.

Angry residents say their pretty town is also being ruined by tourists and second home owners – but now they are taking revenge.