Hundreds of people protested in Anglesey on Saturday, September 17 over the second homes crisis. The Nid yw Cymru ar Werth (Wales is Not for Sale) rally took place at 1pm outside the Anglesey Council offices in Llangefni.
The event was organised by Cymdeithas yr Iaith, which accused the Welsh government of "dragging their feet" in implementing its promise to manage second homes and holiday accommodation in areas where young people cannot find a place to live. Osian Jones, one of the organisers, said: "Our intention is to encourage local authorities such as Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy to use the new powers that the Welsh government is offering them to manage second homes and holiday accommodation to their full potential from April and to start the preparation for that now."
From April next year, local authorities in Wales will have new powers aimed at clamping down on the affordable housing crisis. These will include three new planning-use classes — main home, second home and short-term holiday accommodation. Councils will be able to insist on planning permission for a change from one class to another, control the number of second homes and holiday accommodation in any community, and increase land transaction tax for second homes and holiday accommodation.
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They have already been given the power to increase council tax on second homes by 300% from next year. Gwynedd Council is set to hold a public consultation on a proposal to raise the premium to 300% for second homes and long-term empty properties for the financial year 2023/24, North Wales Live reports.
Mr Jones said: "Political will is on our side and a year of campaigning and pressure by people at a grass-roots level has led to measures that could make a difference. But the Welsh government is dragging their feet — no guidelines or promises of funding to carry out all the work has been sent to local authorities yet.
"Classifying properties into categories so that the important proposal of requiring planning permission to change class of use will mean a significant amount of work, as will the work of gathering evidence of the need for planning permission. These new measures could make a real difference to our communities, so they need to be available to use straight away.
"We were therefore glad that Llinos Medi, leader of Anglesey Council, county councillors Arfon Wyn (for Isle of Anglesey) and Aaron Wynne (for Conwy) added their voices to the call on the call on the Welsh government to ensure that these proposals aren't seen as empty promises."
Gwynedd has 4,720 chargeable second properties — a slight fall from last year's figure of 5,098. The county also has 1,349 long-term-empty second properties, down from 1,558.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We believe everybody has a right to a decent, affordable home to buy or to rent in their own community.
“We have an ambitious commitment of delivering 20,000 new low carbon homes for rent in the social sector this government term and are committed to using the planning, property and taxation systems to tackle injustices in the current housing market.
“This includes the negative impact that a disproportionate number of second homes and short-term holiday lets can have in some areas and we are putting in place a package of proposals to address this.
“We have already announced an increase to the maximum council tax premium that local authorities can decide to charge on second homes and long-term empty dwellings, and new local tax rules for holiday lets.
“We have also concluded a major consultation on proposed changes to the planning system which would give local authorities more control in managing numbers of second homes and short-term holiday lets.”
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