It has become a depressingly familiar story in Britain’s prettiest rural areas. Rich incomers compete for cottages, forcing prices so high that locals cannot afford to buy.

More than 30% of houses in some villages are now holiday homes, and the relative scarcity of houses in rural areas makes a country property more expensive than its urban counterpart in most regions. The government’s Countryside Agency says this is compounded by 105,000 second homes, located mostly in southwest England, the Cotswolds and the Lake District.

But what if the second homes being bought by Londoners were not the cottages and farmhouses wanted by locals, but purpose-built properties on rural gated estates? Developers in Gloucestershire and Cornwall have latched on to this idea, but will it ease local housing shortages or exacerbate overcrowding? The Watermark and Lower Mill, two estates built over 800 acres of a former quarry in Gloucestershire, may be models of what is to come. At The Watermark, businessman John Rushton has a three- bedroom, New England-style clapboard waterside house, built four years ago. No beams or real fires for him, and no work on the garden after a week at work in London.

“I used to own a conventional holiday home, but it was still hard work looking after the place. Now I ring before I come down and someone cuts the grass and puts the heating on. I work hard and want maximum relaxation at the weekend,” says Rushton, a design company manager whose main home is in west London.

He bought his holiday home for £85,000 in 1999, spent £13,000 improving it and calculates its current value at £130,000 — cheaper than most period Cotswold cottages. His £3,000 annual ground rent and service charge is, he says, “a small price to pay not to have to repair my own fence”.

There are 260 homes on that estate with another 200 close by on Lower Mill. Both estates offer private grounds with nature sites, man-made lakes, “wilderness” areas, walks and bicycle paths.

Both also plan expansion over the next five years and by 2006 may have almost 700 properties between them, but will they help a Cotswolds property market that has to cope with the effects of about 15,000 second homes already? “There’s no evidence that these estates reduce second-home ownership, nor take pressure off prices and thus help low-paid local residents,” says a spokeswoman for Cotswold district council. “Presumably the buyers would purchase older properties elsewhere, but the estates aren’t big enough to make a major difference.”

But the council accepts that The Watermark and Lower Mill, which have their own security, rubbish collection and street lighting, use fewer public services than traditional second homes. The owners also contribute to the local economy through spending, or renting out their properties.

However, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which has studied the effect of second-home ownership on country communities, says this kind of development does nothing to solve the key problem. “There’s just too little affordable housing in rural areas. It doesn’t matter much if second-home owners buy old houses or new ones, there’s still a need for cheaper homes,” says Sophie Spencer, the CPRE’s rural policy officer.

“If developers care about locals living in their own communities they should try building affordable homes for local people.”

Enclaves such as The Watermark and Lower Mill are commonplace in America and well-heeled coastal areas of the Mediterranean, but these locations have more land and none of the housing shortages found in Britain.

Max Thomas, The Watermark’s developer and chairman, wants incentives to encourage second-home owners to buy on estates instead of in villages.

“Councils currently charge second-home owners only 50% of standard council tax. They should charge them double and penalise them for what they’re doing to local housing markets,” he says.

Although local authorities in the Cotswolds say there has been no serious public opposition to the estates from local people, the same cannot be said of Britain’s newest second-home development.

Owner-occupiers living near The Beach — a proposal for 511 holiday homes set to open in 2006 at Carlyon Bay in Cornwall — are resisting the plans fiercely.

“There is a need for new homes in the area,” says Peter Browning, chair of local protest group, Carlylon Focus. “But nobody here could afford apartments that start at £300,000.

“I believe it will be harmful to the environment in the long term. It will destroy the ragged coastline and the beautiful beaches. This development will double the size of the village, and traffic is at saturation already. If this development gets the go-ahead, which beach is next? We will end up with a Costa del Carlyon and then Costa del Cornwall.”

Planning permission for some aspects of the scheme has not yet been granted by Restormel council, although the authority says it supports the project in principle and believes it can help limit the effect of second-home owners elsewhere in the area.

Johnny Sandelson, chief executive of the developer Ampersand, says arguments over second homes miss the point of such a development bringing in tourist revenue for the region.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is considering objections, says if a public inquiry is held it will probably take place next year. Its conclusions may prove of wider importance than just in Cornwall, as developers keen to build more second-home estates are talking to local authorities in Lancashire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire.

Lower Mill Estate, 01285 869 489, www.lowermillestate.com; The Watermark, 01285 862 288, www.watermarkclub.co.uk; The Beach, 0870 850 5858, www.carlyonbeach.com; www.carlyonbaywatch.co.uk

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