Senior councillors in holiday hotspot back holding council tax premiums at 150%

Bruce Sinclair, local democracy reporter

Senior councillors have recommended that council tax premiums on second homes and empty properties in a holiday hotspot remain at their current level, following a public consultation.

Late last year, Pembrokeshire councillors voted to drop the council tax premium on second homes from 200 per cent, effectively a treble rate, to 150 per cent.

Prior to that, second-home owners in the county were charged a 100 per cent premium.

Under Welsh Government legislation, local authorities are able to increase the council premium on second homes to as much as 300 per cent, effectively a quadruple rate.

Cabinet meeting

The percentage of homes in Pembrokeshire made up of holiday lets, empty homes and second homes, is 13.8 per cent, down from a high of 14.6 per cent, a report for members of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting of October 6 revealed.

Four communities in the county, Dale, Lamphey, Newport, and The Havens, have a percentage in excess of 40 per cent and a further 14 have a rate of 25 per cent or higher, the report added.

A consultation on potential changes to the rates for second homes and empty properties in the county was held this summer, with 2,375 responses, some 44 per cent of those answering saying there should be no second homes premium, and 24 per cent and 18 per cent respectively favouring a 50 per cent or 100 per cent premium rather than the current 150.

At this week’s full council meeting, cabinet members were asked to endorse several recommendations — including keeping the council tax premium on second homes at 150 per cent and maintaining the 300 per cent rate on long-term empty properties.

Budget shortfall

Addressing the meeting, Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance and Efficiencies, Cllr Alistair Cameron, warned that reducing the second homes premium to 100 per cent, as proposed by the Council Tax Working Group, would create a £2.6 million budget shortfall for 2026–27 — the equivalent of a three per cent rise in general council tax.

Lamphey councillor, and Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Cllr Tessa Hodgson questioned the high percentage figures for her own ward, suggesting they could be skewed by the number of residents at a chalet holiday park.

“I’ve never been a fan of this additional tax on second home-owners,” she said, adding the “image of people turning up in Range Rovers bringing bags of Waitrose shopping” into the county was actually more likely to be people who inherit a property or share such a property around the family as a way of having cheap holidays in the area, or being used for holiday lets.

She said she favoured a 100 per cent rate, or even abolishing it, with fellow Cabinet member Cllr Jacob Williams also declaring his opposition, saying he had been against it from the start.

He suggested second homeowners pay a ‘premium’ even on the basic rate as they “don’t hog resources,” by using less services.

Members backed the recommendations, the matter now coming before full council, meeting on October 9, with identical recommendations.