Famous for its iconic honey-coloured Georgian crescents, Roman baths, and verdant green surrounds, Bath is widely regarded as one of the UK’s most beautiful destinations.
But it presents a striking contrast between preserved historic beauty and an escalating housing crisis that threatens its residents’ wellbeing.
Its UNESCO status and proliferation of short-term rentals have created a unique challenge for the area, as prices rise and development plans stall.
Now, the city stands at a crossroads between preserving its heritage and addressing the needs of its residents for affordable housing.
The stark reality underneath Bath’s charm
Over the past decade, Bath has witnessed a staggering 70% surge in property prices, with average homes now costing up to 18 times the median local salary, according to the Big Issue.
This steep affordability gap leaves many residents spending nearly 40% of their income on rent. Such figures signal acute stress in the housing market, especially for young families and low-income households.
Exacerbating this affordability crisis is the city’s rigid planning framework tied to its UNESCO World Heritage designation.
This status protects Bath’s architectural and natural environment, including 18 key views and a green belt, but it simultaneously imposes stringent restrictions on housing development.
This has led to a bottleneck where neither vertical nor outward expansion of housing stock is possible.
The Big Issue reports that over 6,000 people are on the housing waitlist and 500 in immediate crisis. But social housing output is woefully inadequate, with roughly 20 units constructed per year.
The estimated 200-year waiting time for families requiring larger social homes, which was revealed by Bath and North East Somerset Council earlier this year, illustrates how the delays threaten not only housing stability but the social fabric of the city, potentially forcing long-term residents to seek accommodation elsewhere.
UNESCO status is a double-edged sword
Bath’s UNESCO World Heritage status, granted in 1987 and reaffirmed in 2021 as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, is a source of immense pride and prestige.
It safeguards Bath’s global cultural significance and generates billions in tourism revenue.
However, this designation acts as a double-edged sword.
The protections, while preserving the Georgian crescents and green surroundings, also function as a shackle that curtails necessary development.
The Bath and North East Somerset Local Plan’s strict adherence to UNESCO principles has led to the rejection of affordable housing schemes, such as the 2021 denial of a 15-home project due to concerns about the impact on heritage and landscape.
But despite the urgent housing situation, altering Bath’s UNESCO status to relieve development restrictions is politically and diplomatically unfeasible, because the listing forms part of a network of European spa towns, meaning any delisting would have wide repercussions beyond Bath itself.
Additional strains on housing supply
Aside from UNESCO constraints, Britain’s conservation policies pose additional barriers in Bath.
Rules around listed buildings restrict modernisation and adaptive reuse of existing housing stock, impeding even minor modifications such as secondary glazing or back-building extensions and reducing flexibility to meet evolving housing demands.
For Bath residents, it results in costly, inefficient living conditions and fewer practical options for expanding or improving existing homes.
Meanwhile, the proliferation of short-term holiday rentals via platforms like Airbnb adds another layer of complexity.
Council leaders argue that hundreds of homes have been withdrawn from the long-term rental market and are used as short-term rentals, fueling affordability pressures.
As a result of these challenges, Bath now stands at a pivotal juncture that calls for nuanced, multifaceted responses.
Preserving its unique heritage remains imperative — not only for cultural reasons but also as an economic engine through tourism.
But without intervention to address the housing crisis, there is a very real risk of Bath evolving into a ‘museum city’ — one that is visually remarkable but socially inaccessible for many of its inhabitants.
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