Holiday homes in Wales could be targeted by arsonists, a housing chief has warned. As people are being priced out of properties, particularly in popular rural and coastal areas where there is a demand for second homes, residents could see a return to the firebombing campaigns of the 1970s and 80s.
Local action has been taken to stem the demand for holiday homes as communities express their concerns over property prices. The Welsh Government has introduced additional measures to curb demand.
This includes giving power to local authorities to hike council tax premiums to 300% and increasing the minimum time a property is let before it can qualify for business rates rather than pay council tax, North Wales Live reports.
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But tourism chiefs and opposition politicians say the solution lies in building more affordable homes in these areas and criticised the Welsh Government and some councils for failing to provide these properties, which has exacerbated the situation. They say targeting the tourism sector that brings thousands of jobs and millions of pounds of investment to these communities risks causing serious economic damage.
Gwynedd Council has been on the frontline on this issue - both in terms of the massive demand for holiday homes in the county and the response, with the authority using the 100% tax premium for second homes, the current maximum level. It has also been under-fire for not building enough properties.
Cllr Craig ab Iago, as housing portfolio holder, has been at the centre of the response and says while he believes the council is now leading the way on this in Wales he admits it is still not enough - or moving at sufficient speed.
He is clear that the categorisation of second home owners by some as “monsters” is both wrong and unhelpful - pointing out that many are local people topping up incomes to help their family remain in the area and others have long-standing links and genuine affection for the area.
But while he says second homes and self catering businesses do support the economy the key had to be controlling the percentage of properties being taken out of local stock for this. He believes a local approach is the key and wants more powers devolved from Welsh and UK governments to the communities affected.
The risk of failing to act to stem the anger is dangerous he believes, with concern of a return to the Meibion Glyndwr campaigns in the 70s and 80s, when holiday homes were burnt down. He said: “I have heard people, even solidly middle class and comfortably off people, talking about this being an answer. This is not the answer, we need homes, not our homes being burnt down and people ending up in jail.
“That is where we are at now but torching houses is not the answer. We can bring hope back rather than people getting angry. We can’t give up or turn violent and racist, we need to avoid that.
“The real issue across all areas is a lack of affordability in the market - every area in the UK is affected in different ways so more powers should be devolved so each area can deal with this in a way that suits that community.”
Jim Jones, from North Wales Tourism, said building more homes for local people was at the heart of helping solve the issue. He said: “The creation of affordable local housing in Gwynedd is long overdue, this should be a priority and of course the plan for more social housing is most welcomed. However the targeting of proper tourism businesses which are the backbone within the communities in Gwynedd, to justify the lack of homes and slow progress in building social housing is completely unfair.”
Conservative MS Janet Finch-Saunders agreed that not enough homes were being built and has also proposed planning changes to help farmers and other rural families build homes on their land to keep children living in their communities. She added: “The housing crisis is a direct result of years of successive Labour-led governments failing to provide opportunities and build enough houses with housebuilding falling below levels before devolution.
"What we see is a Labour Government desperately trying to act long after the horse has bolted. This Labour Government is failing to tackle the root issues of the housing crisis failing to address the fact that, until recently there have been more empty homes in Wales than there are second homes.”
Gwynedd Council has unveiled a five year £77m Housing Action Plan to help address some of these issues. It says that it is using around £14m raised from the second homes premium towards this.
It includes the council building affordable homes themselves after years where this was left to housing associations thanks to policy changes at a UK and Welsh level. Since the plan launched last April they said 89 social houses have been built, 41 empty properties have been brought back into use, and 38 units for the homeless have been built or were in the process of being built.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has said there are “too many second homes” in some parts of Wales that are affecting communities and causing housing prices to rise sharply. Mr Drakeford said: “What we are in the business of doing is trying to make sure that local people and young people in particular have a fair chance to go on living, growing up, and contributing in the communities into which they were born.”
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