Why the second home and holiday let housing policies of Cyngor Gwynedd and the Eryri National Park Authority are a disaster waiting to happen.

Cyngor Gwynedd and the Eryri National Park Authority tend to walk hand in hand for the great majority of their policies, let’s face it to all intents and purposes they are the same body, dominated by the same, often short sighted, isolationist political ideology. Recently this has manifested itself most in their approach to what they claim is a housing crisis in North Wales. Absolutely no one is denying that in some communities, homes occupied by locals, for want of a better word, are starting to be outnumbered, either partially or completely, by second homes, holiday homes, and BnB type holiday lets. The consequence of which has been the decline of community shops, schools and local culture.

Homes or Employment?

However, the knee jerk reaction of the two local planning authorities has been to cite rising house prices caused by an ‘influx’ of outsiders leading to local young people having to leave the area. Let’s consider that for a moment; why would someone leave this area to move to Manchester or London because of an increase in house prices here, it’s a completely nonsensical argument. Houses here are still comparatively cheap compared to those in the great majority of areas across the border. Young people leave here because of the need to find good, well-paying employment. Local policies designed to ‘protect’ our communities often have totally and utterly the opposite effect, just look at the story recently in the news (although the actual story stems from 2021) that permission was denied to building a new nuclear power facility on Ynys Mon because, amongst other things, it would have a detrimental effect on the Welsh language. How can providing employment for potentially thousands of people, many of them local people, be anything but good for an area? Surely people leaving the area in search of employment has more of a detrimental effect on the Welsh language.

The wrong houses?

But back to the second homes and holiday lets policies. In recent years these properties have been hit with increased council tax bills, sometimes avoided through dubious means, increased rules and regulations, notably the 182 days letting requirement, and most recently the infamous Article 4 implementation. The net result of these changes is that there are now more houses coming onto the market. Indeed, the recent house price index shows that house prices have fallen in Gwynedd by substantially more than any other Welsh region, in effect local planning and tax regimes have ‘crashed’ the market, not just for second homeowners but for everyone. But, and it is the crucial but, the houses coming on to the market are often not the sort of homes that young people either want or can afford. As one local estate agent has said the houses now appearing on the market are still not the ones that are affordable to local purchasers. It isn’t the price of houses that is the issue, it is the availability of suitable housing. Typically, the properties for sale are not the cheap, easy to live in, starter homes that young families want, instead they are either the larger more expensive properties or if they are cheaper, they are often the ‘full of character but run-down cottages’ which need a lot of attention and investment to make them liveable

And the result might be?

Tourism continues to decline, one of the major employers in the area, young people still continue to leave the area in search of employment (not that tourism is generally a well-paid, all year-round job, but it is a start) and what happens to the houses that have come onto the market? They are exactly the sort of homes that people who are looking to retire to the countryside and coast are looking for, older people with disposable income. As their primary residence these houses will not then be subject to the higher council taxes, and the buyers get a bargain when compared to other areas such as the Cotswolds or Cornwall. This isn’t just speculation, there are signs that it is happening already, ‘PropertyMark’ the estate agent’s professional body is highlighting the change in the market. North Wales may stop being a second homes and holiday lets hotspot, which is what the planning authorities really want, but instead it could become a retirement hotspot which, in very many ways, is a disaster. There is still no money being brought into the local communities in any significant way, local schools, shops (more because of the choice and price of online shopping than anything else) and pubs continue to close, the council’s social care and associated costs go through the roof and a creaking NHS is put under even more strain. We already have a population that is getting older, incoming retirees will only add to that.

Mixing it up with tourism?

It seems to be the case, although hopefully not, that in the absence of a realistic policy for managing the lack of affordable housing in the area, Cyngor Gwynedd and the National Park Authority have resorted to the tried and tested ‘blame someone else’ policy. In this instance, they have gone for their old favourite, blame the English incomers, the second homeowners and the holiday letting market. By their actions Cyngor Gwynedd and the National Park Authority have intertwined the tourism industry with local housing problems in such a way that they have become a single issue. Of particular concern with this is that, despite all their fine words and lengthy aspirational publications, our planning authorities still don’t really appreciate the finer details of the tourism industry. As Professor Calvin Jones, the author of the Welsh Government’s Visitor Levy Economic Impact Assessment says, “we know very little about how the tourism economy in Wales works … it should be a very uncomfortable place for [Senedd] members to be in when they’re trying to make policy or audit policy on tourism”.

By making decisions based on political ideology and, yes let’s face it, prejudice, the short-sightedness of our two planning authorities won’t solve the problems that local communities face but can only lead to a ‘population disaster’.