8 COUNCIL TAX: DISCRETIONARY POWERS TO ALLOW DISCOUNTS AND/OR RAISE A PREMIUM 2023-24 PDF 675 KB
To submit
the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance.
Additional documents:
Decision:
For the 2023/24
financial year, that Cyngor Gwynedd:
·
Allows NO
discount on class A second homes, in accordance with Section 12 of the Local
Government Finance Act 1992 (i.e. no change from 2022/23).
·
Allows NO
discount and CHARGES A PREMIUM OF 150% on class B second homes in accordance
with Section 12B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (i.e. increase from
100% to 150%).
·
Allows NO
discount on homes that have been empty for 6 months or more and CHARGES A
PREMIUM of 100% on homes that have been empty for 12 months or more, in
accordance with Section 12A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (i.e. no
change from 2022/23).
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Ioan
Thomas, presented a report asking the Council for formal ratification for 2023/24, of previous decisions not to allow any discounts
for second homes and to disallow discounts on empty properties, and to raise a
Premium of 150% or 100% on such relevant properties. The Head of Finance gave
an outline of the principal points of the public consultation, and he thanked
the Communication and Engagement Team and the Research and Information Team for
their invaluable work preparing the consultation and analysing the results.
He also
thanked his colleagues in the Finance Department who had assisted with the
work.
Members were given an
opportunity to make observations and ask questions.
A member noted:-
·
That he welcomed the additions to what had been before the Governance and
Audit Committee, however he was not convinced that the additions, and
specifically the reference to Simon Brookes' report on second homes, had not
been considered deeply enough.
·
The impact of a holiday
home on an area's language profile was less than the impact of a non-Welsh
speaking residential dwelling, and the report did not entirely consider the
likely impact of increasing the Premium on the percentage of the population who
speak Welsh in those areas, nor the direct impact that is likely to be on the
native population.
·
There was a risk for
the proposal, as it stood, to deliver unintentional and deviant results, namely to motivate native people to sell property to
outsiders and motivate holiday home owners to transform them into residential
households.
·
He did not believe that
the report gave consideration to the possibility of
working from home, the impacts of the pandemic or the arrival of the Bontnewydd Bypass, that all facilitated the demographic
shift.
·
There was not a
never-ending population of Welsh speakers in these areas or a matching demand
for houses compared to the number of holiday homes we have in these areas. The
demographic/linguistic situation in these areas was extremely fragile, and the
Brookes report referred to the catastrophic results of moving too quickly to
reduce the number of holiday homes.
Based on these arguments,
the member proposed the following amendment, and it was seconded:-
That the Premium should not
be increased for the 2023/24 financial year, and a comprehensive linguistic
impact assessment should be received of the likely impacts of increasing the
Premium, clarity regarding exceptions, and to also give full
consideration to the other measures to control holiday homes.
A member noted that it would be better if the Council
voted on the three clauses of the recommendation separately, as there were some
matters that he would support and others that he would object.
The amendment was supported
by a number of members. It was noted that:-
·
If a public consultation was conducted, then the results should not be
disregarded, and 75% of the respondents objected increasing the Premium for
linguistic and economic reasons.
· The owners of second homes spent locally, and increasing the Premium would have an adverse ... view the full minutes text for item 8