Anglesey...Hundreds expected at second homes rally to call for 300% council tax measure

Well done to them, personally, I think it should be a 500% increase, let us hope it happens.

Hundreds of protesters are expected to gather at a second homes rally on Anglesey this weekend. The Nid yw Cymru ar Werth (Wales is Not for Sale) rally will be held by Cymdeithas yr Iaith outside Anglesey Council offices in Llangefni at 1pm on Saturday.

The protest, which was initially announced at the Eisteddfod last month, will call on the Welsh Government to introduce a Property Act to further tackle the second homes crisis and ensure a local home for everybody in Wales. It will also call on local authorities to implement their new discretionary powers to increase council tax premiums on second homes – and long-term empty homes – to the maximum level of 300%.

For the 2022/23 period, Gwynedd had 4,720 chargeable second properties - a slight fall from the previous year's figure of 5,098. It also had 1,349 long-term empty second properties, a small drop from last year's figure of 1,558. This has been attributed to the punitive council tax premium of 100% added to council tax bills on second homes in the county.

Elsewhere across North Wales, Anglesey, Denbighshire, and Flintshire currently charge a council tax premium of 50% on second homes, while Conwy only charges 25%, according to Welsh Government data. In July, the Welsh Government unveiled new measures to control second homes and holiday lets in Wales as part of its Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru. The package of measures included new planning laws, a statutory licensing scheme, and proposals to change land transaction tax.

Cymdeithas Yr Iaith says they expect hundreds of people to take part in the rally where they will call on local authorities to:

• Start consulting within the next few weeks on the level of the council tax premium on second homes, in order to raise the level by next April, or have to wait until next year to raise the council tax
• Prepare to pass an "Article 4" proposal to ensure that a planning application must be submitted in order to change the main home into a second home or holiday accommodation. This is an urgent matter as the government has promised to introduce secondary legislation establishing the three planning classes (main home, second home, and holiday accommodation) this autumn
• Immediately proceed - as has happened in Gwynedd - to collect evidence and establish a solid case for taking these steps to tackle the problem of second homes and holiday accommodation depriving local people of homes. Without the research, they will be open to legal challenges.

The rally in Llangefni was announced at a demonstration on the grounds of the Eisteddfod (Image: Cymdeithas yr Iaith)

Jeff Smith, chair of Cymdeithas' Sustainable Communities group said: "At the rally, we will launch the next steps of our campaign. The Government is clearly listening to the thousands of people who have come to rallies, responded to consultations, and campaigned for homes for local people in their communities.

"It has announced that Local Authorities will have new powers to reduce the impact of second homes and holiday accommodation in their area, so the next step of the campaign for us now is to press on Local Authorities to make full use of the powers they will have. But Local Authorities must act immediately in order to have an influence on the housing market in 2023."
Mr. Smith added: "We will also express disappointment that the Welsh Government is dragging its feet on the issue. The Government has not sent any guidelines to Local Authorities on how to implement the powers or announced that funding will be available to enable them to do all the work that will be needed.

"On top of that, there is no mention yet of the secondary legislation to establish planning classes, which has been promised for the autumn, and there hasn't even been a decision about who is to create the register of holiday accommodation. We will call on the Government to move faster on these issues as local communities are losing their housing stock weekly. We are therefore proud that the leader of Anglesey Council and two county councilors can be with us at the rally to merge with the call."

From...https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/hundreds-expected-anglesey-second-homes-25027800