POWERS allowing councils to double the amount they tax second-home owners would give Sussex authorities a £17million financial boost every year.

The Liberal Democrats are proposing the policy to control rising house prices and free up more housing for local residents.

The proposals could impact almost one in five homeowners in some tourist hotspots such as Camber Sands.

Brighton and Hove alone would benefit by £2.2million a year if it could double the council tax on its almost 1,500 second homes while the Chichester district, where more than one in 20 homes would be affected, would net an extra £5.2 million.

More than 1,000 property owners would be affected in the Eastbourne constituency of Lib Dem Stephen Lloyd, who is predicted to retain the seat on Thursday.

The policy would mark a significant shift in approach to second home owners who, until April 2013, were entitled to between a 10% and 50% discount.

Councils were then given powers to remove the discount at their discretion. Chris Bowers, the Lib Dem candidate for Brighton Pavilion, said housing was one of the biggest issues affecting the city at this election and the problem was made worse by potential homes lying empty.

He said: “We’re proposing to allow councils to charge double council tax on second homes, as these are often the smaller units that young people need to get on to the housing ladder.

“If they’re owned by people from outside and only used every third weekend, it can price local people out of the market.”

Graham Cox, Conservative candidate for Hove, said: “I am in favour of devolving further powers on council tax to councils and support the idea of councils having more responsibility for what council tax levels should be.

“My worry here in Brighton and Hove would be that Labour and the Greens would join together to hike up council tax. In the end all that would do is drive people away, people would not pay increased council tax but would move to Worthing, to Ditchling and Eastbourne and you wouldn’t actually increase the amount of council tax coming in.”

Background

Following the granting of powers to remove the council tax discount for second homes, from April 2013, local authorities across the county including Worthing Borough Council, Brighton and Hove City Council and Lewes District Council all agreed to remove the discount.

However, a number of discounts still remain including properties owned by charities, homes where the owner or tenant is serving a prison sentence, a home used by a minister of religion or barracks used by the armed forces.