‘You can’t blame us for needing a break’ says London news site as it plugs second home crisis village
A London news site has tackled the issue of a Welsh village at the centre of a second homes crisis by saying that they can’t be blamed for wanting a break now and again.
In an article about the “stunning Welsh seaside town” of Cwm-yr-Eglwys in Pembrokeshire the site MyLondon said that it is “falling victim to its own beauty”.
“So many Londoners have moved there’s ‘only one Welshman left’,” the article says.
“Although London is often considered the best city on Earth you can’t blame its inhabitants for needing a break now and again.”
But it admits that this mass movement can “export the London housing crisis to these quaint nooks but it can also turn them into ghost towns during the winter”.
“Visiting the small town makes it obvious why it’s so popular,” the article says.
“Sitting in a cove on a beautifully desolate stretch of coast, a ruined church overlooks the village’s beach. For Londoners looking to get away from the city’s churn, it’s easy to see the appeal.”
The article is one of a series on towns and villages in Wales on the site that advertises them as potential holiday destinations.
Another, about Aberaeron in Ceredigion, was deleted from the site after a social media backlash branded it “insane”. The article managed to confuse the town’s attractions with those of nearby Aberystwyth and Cwm Rheidol.
A similar article about Beddgelert in Gwynedd described the village as “haunted” and nearby Snowdon as “infamously beautiful”.
‘Too late’
In June one of the last permanent residents of Cwm-yr-Eglwys called for action.
88-year-old Norman Thomas said that the Welsh Government to protect dying communities such as his.
Only two of the 50 houses in the village now have permanent residents – and those residents are in their 80s. The rest are holiday homes.
One house which did have a permanent resident was for sale – for £1.3m.
Norman Thomas told BBC Radio Cymru this morning that the village is completely empty during the winter and there is no longer a pub or shop.
“It’s sad that young Welsh people can’t afford these houses,” he told Dros Frecwast.
“The Government is to blame, and they should do something to stop it, and give the locals a chance – they have no chance now. There is no work in Pembrokeshire for them.
“It’s too late for Cwm-yr-Eglwys, these houses have all been sold to English people. I have nothing against them – they bring work here.
“Every winter there is work going on on the houses, and people from the area who do it, and without it local people would suffer.”
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We should always be welcoming to visitors. Wales is a beautiful place and people should always be welcome to visit and holiday here in our hotels, holiday parks and B+B’s etc.
However, privately owned holiday homes are having a detrimental effect by pushing up house prices and pushing local, Welsh people out of our communities – especially the young. There is also the future of Cymraeg to consider. We must preserve our language communities for the language to survive.
I hope our leaders will tackle this issue with urgency.
Mr Williams, I understand you were a teacher…you must have been a good one…
Diolch 🙂
Have a “break” in your own country you selfish scumbags! Are we supposed to be grateful to those community destroying pigs because they work in another country?
Don’t try so hard to suppress your emotions, GW. When we are patronised in this way we must be willing to cut loose, let fly a bit. Release your inner “mab Glyndwr” and strike back.
Release your inner “mab Glyndwr”
Cowards, failures and nobodies to a man
Lot of Welsh in Cornwall this year, it has to be said.
Also in Iwerddon, Yr Alban, Llydaw and Gwlad y Basg.
It is the tourism of solidarity
No. This was Welsh people wanting to look around, get served food and drink and have a good time.
Pompous patronising visits from uptight Welsh nats deluded that Basque and especially Breton residents are in some kind of fraternity with them were few on the ground.
In their Cornish second homes? Na.
No. This was Welsh people wanting to look around, get served food and drink and have a good time.
Especially in the more, to use your term “overtouristed” areas, there were plenty of young Welsh people getting drunk, being sick, fornicating.
Who knew that genetic behavioural superiority was a myth generated by bigots, eh?
This article is about the deleterious impact of holiday homes in Cymru, not drunken Welsh teenagers in Cornwall. I like the new pseudonym, by the way, but I preferred “Hedda”.
People from outside Cymru seem to have mistook the lyrics of “We’ll Keep a Welcome in the Hillside” as applying to them –
“We’ll kiss away each hour of hiraeth,
When you come home again to Wales”
“Thank you! How kind. I think I’ll buy your village”
Only independence will begin to solve this.
By taking decisions that benefit Wales as opposed to the opposite. Ask any ex colony.
So what decision would be made to benefit Wales on this subject under independence?
Tourisym should be run by locals for the benefit of locals and their community’s .
See my reply to Quornby.
Same reply.
“squeeze them until the pips squeak,”
Who do you think?
It’s time to stop all incomers buying second homes 🏠 in wales 🏴 we have got to take all second homes of them and give them to young welsh people who can’t get on the housing market because of incomers we in wales have got to stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴 it’s time for a new wales 🏴
There is an answer to this problem and that is to give councils the power to designate houses as primary residence status only and require planning consent for any other use. Hefty fines should be applied to those cheating the system. We can then look at building B&B’s, holiday homes & parks where appropriate. I’m appalled at Labour dragging their feet on this. They must legislate NOW. If it’s beyond the Welsh Government competence to do so they must demand this of Westminster. It is a reasonable defence against the hollowing out of communities. There is also the matter of… Read more »
The answer is simple. Always has been.
You go to vendor of the next home on sale (likely to be Welsh) and you ensure that they sell it at a price point where the mortgage is accessible to someone on minimum wage.
Be sure to post on here how it went.
Oh, and you might want to investigate the maths of property prices and the “pushing up of them” and show your working on how your solutions would actually change things.
No. It requires regulation as leaving it to the market is quite evidently a huge part of the problem. I suggest you read my initial post once more and ensure that you have understood what I proposed before attempting another condescending reply.
what you say makes sense, although it could happen that the Wales house now becomes a ‘primary’ house and the London house is now a ‘second’ home.
If it is a genuine main residence then it is at least not a B&B or holiday home. Otherwise a hefty fine should be applied. I’d hope that by shifting the market demand to more appropriate developments we can reduce the pressure on local housing stock.
Just like the English politicians parachuted into other peoples constituencies do – so the Treasury gets charged for the more expensive property.
That situation can be quickly resolved by making your “primary residence” the address from which you submit your tax returns. That way the income tax paid by the occupant of a Welsh home would go towards calculating the Welsh Government’s tax receipts rather than the English Government’s receipts, and when the Welsh Government has the power to negotiate its own tax rates etc it can deal with the tax issue of these homes as it thinks fit
Second home purchase has to stop. Yes, high taxation is one answer but now it has gone too far, we can’t have houses lying empty while local residents, particulary the young, are forced out of the market. I don’t care how beautiful Londoners think Wales is, the situation is totally unfair.
Google “Jersey Housing.”
You mean you can get housing for jerseys?
Jersey : “Housing Rights And Residential Status”.
By this, I mean for now until Independence.
And I was talking about housing for jerseys, jumpers and other pullovers.
https://www.facebook.com/events/356531512501601
Cwm yr Eglwys is not a good example of the problem. The village died because it lost its fishing industry many years ago, it is isolated and not suitable for young families. One resident did call for action but the other permanent resident reckons the holiday homes have at least stopped the village falling into dereliction. The shop closed long before the second home owners came along and the village is too small to sustain a pub.
There are many villages that demonstrate the problems caused by second homes, it is they that should be used to illustrate the issue.
There was that comment that the second-home owners spend money in the area, but surely people living in the houses full-time would bring more economic benefit?
Adding to the facts: CyE is not a village. Norman T (a local star) actually lives in what was a pub. CyE is pretty much the most extreme case of 2nd-home/retirement syndrome. Once my childhood playground, I can’t bear to go there
London as a city a city is completely out of control, and unlivable. And yet, they want to export that model to Cardiff urban Wales generally.
Tell the rich londoners to try Dorset for their 2nd homes, much nearer to london simples.
You can’t blame us for wanting somewhere to live AND WORK
“Every winter there is work going on on the houses, and people from the area who do it, and without it local people would suffer.”
If the homes were lived in all year, even more work would be going on over winters. Sheesh!
B*****r you lot, I’m all right, Jack!