NATIONAL park chiefs have raised concerns about a Government scheme making it cheaper for pension holders to buy a second home.

From next year, anyone with a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) can invest the money in a holiday home and get 40 per cent tax relief on the price of the property.

The move means even more smaller houses in rural areas will be bought as a second home, David Butterworth, chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said yesterday.

"This policy would have a serious knock-on effect in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, where the authority decided to change the planning rules earlier this year in an effort to provide more affordable housing for local people," said Mr Butterworth.

"The Treasury, in effect, will negate everything we have tried to do to help local people stay in towns and villages where they were brought up by enabling them to afford to buy their own home.

"Of the 10,300 homes within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, 15 per cent are already registered as second homes or holiday lets.

"This proposal means that people with a decent amount of money to invest from their pensions will, in effect, receive a subsidy to buy the limited housing stock in attractive areas like the national park."

National park bosses plan to lobby Government ministers and raise their concerns with the newly-formed Affordable Rural Housing Commission.