Council calls on Welsh Government for powers to limit numbers of second homes

Gwynedd Council have called on the Welsh Government for the power to be able to set limits on the number of second homes in an area.

Nefyn Councillor Gruff Williams submitted a motion calling for the Planning Act to be amended to allow for the change. His motion was passed without objection.

He said that second homes were having a “negative impact on our residents, our homes, our villages and our areas and on our language”.

“The situation is changing the whole ethos of our Welsh rural coastal communities. We must act and ask for rights under the law,” he said.

“We call on the Welsh Government to amend the Planning Act so that planning permission is required to convert a dwelling into a holiday home / holiday unit, and modify the policy framework to allow thresholds for the maximum number of holiday homes in any area.”

Deputy Council Leader Dafydd Meurig said that Gwynedd Councilors had “unanimously” called on the Welsh Government to legislate to allow councils to manage second homes through the Planning system.

 

‘No will’

Over the weekend 30 town councillors, language campaigners and local people marched from Nefyn to Caernarfon to demand that the Welsh Government acts to solve what they say is a “second home crisis”.

Campaigners who took part in the 20-mile hike said the rise in the number of second homes in rural  Wales threatened the Welsh language, particularly on the Llŷn peninsula.

Rhys Tudur, a town councillor in Nefyn, said he was “extremely disappointed” with the Welsh Government’s inaction in dealing with our second homes crisis.

“The Government has not shown any political will whatsoever to solve this emergency in Gwynedd and Môn,” he said.

“The Government’s inaction is heartbreaking given that there are too many second homes in our communities resulting in gentrification, and creating a huge imbalance that is detrimental to the wellbeing of future generations who cannot live in their local area.”

Town councillors and language campaigners will be marching on foot, bike and car from various locations on the Llŷn Peninsula, including Nefyn, Morfa Nefyn, Llanllyfni and Y Ffôr to demand Government action.