Cyflwynwyd gan:Cyng. / Cllr. Gareth Griffith and Cyng. / Cllr. Craig ab Iago
Decision:
In light of
the need to obtain better control of houses being taken out of the supply
available for local people, and thus benefit local residents first, the
research was approved for submission to Welsh Government and that we should:
a)
Call
on the Government urgently to emulate what is happening in Scotland and amend
the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order to include an additional use
class for short-term holiday accommodation. This in turn would allow
authorities to identify 'management areas' where it would be required to obtain
planning consent in order to change a residential house to be used as
short-term holiday accommodation within a specified 'management area'.
b)
In
order to assist to maintain control, a call should also be made for a mandatory
licensing plan for short-term holiday accommodation where the local authority
would be responsible for its implementation.
c)
Whilst
the above would assist the Council to obtain better control of housing being
used for holiday purposes, it would not be possible to avoid/control houses
from being converted into second homes (excluding those let
occasionally/permanently). In order to ensure that the Council has the
financial means to assist to compensate for the shortcomings in the supply that
this would cause, that we call on the Government to change its stance and to
act urgently to change the Local Government Finance Act so that any dwelling
house that is not the main or sole residence for an individual (whether a
second home or a house used for short-term holiday accommodation purposes), is
defined as a dwelling house for tax purposes (and thus has to pay any Council
Tax premium determined locally). Any short-term holiday accommodation that has
received purposeful planning consent for that use would continue to be eligible
to pay Non-domestic Business Rates.
d)
To
delegate the power to the Head of Environment Department, in consultation with
the Cabinet Member, to consider how the research can be used in the context of
the local planning policy framework.
Minutes:
The report was submitted by Cllr. Gareth Griffith and Cllr. Craig ab
Iago.
DECISION
In light of the need
to obtain better control of houses being taken out of the supply available for
local people, and thus placing the interests of local residents first, the
research was approved to submit to the Welsh Government and that we should:
a)
Call on the Government urgently to emulate what was
happening in Scotland and amend the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes)
Order to include an additional use class for short-term holiday accommodation.
This in turn would allow authorities to identify 'management areas' where it
would be required to obtain planning consent in order to change a residential
house to be used as short-term holiday accommodation within a specified
'management area'.
b)
In order to assist to maintain control, a call
should also be made for a mandatory licensing plan for short-term holiday
accommodation where the local authority would be responsible for its
implementation.
c)
Whilst the above would assist the Council to obtain
better control of housing being used for holiday purposes, it would not be
possible to avoid/control houses from being converted into second homes
(excluding those let occasionally/permanently). In order to ensure that the
Council had the financial means to assist to compensate for the shortcomings in
the supply that this would cause, that we call on the Government to change its
stance and to act urgently to change the Local Government Finance Act so that
any dwelling house that was not the main or sole residence of an individual
(whether a second home or a house used for short-term holiday accommodation
purposes), was defined as a dwelling house for tax purposes (and thus had to
pay any Council Tax premium determined locally). Any short-term holiday
accommodation that has received purposeful planning consent for that use would
continue to be eligible to pay Non-domestic Business Rates.
d)
To delegate the power to the Head of Environment
Department, in consultation with the Cabinet Member, to consider how the
research could be used in the context of the local planning policy framework.
DISCUSSION
The report was presented and it was noted that
the Cabinet had commissioned a report to examine the impact of holiday homes in
Gwynedd's context over a year ago. The staff were thanked for their hard work
in producing the report.
It was noted that
the report highlighted the main issues in the field, namely the impact on the
housing stock, the impact on communities, and the impact on the Welsh language.
It was added that the report shared information but also highlighted possible
options to tackle these. Attention was drawn to the extremely concerning
figures quoted, such as almost 7000 houses in the county being used as holiday
homes. It was also noted that during the previous financial year, 38% of the
county's houses sold had been bought as second homes. The decision was noted,
drawing attention to the fact that the report had received the support of the
Communities Scrutiny Committee, which had discussed the matter the previous
week.
The Joint Planning
Policy Unit Team Leader gave an overview of the report, emphasising that this
sector was unregulated at present. A map was shown which highlighted the areas
where house prices were higher than the county average, noting that a clear
relationship could be seen between these areas and those with a lower number of
Welsh speakers. Steps taken in other countries were mentioned, noting that
Scotland enforced licensing for holiday accommodation, and that local
authorities were able to ask all new holiday accommodation to make a planning
application for change of use from residential accommodation to use as holiday
accommodation. The need for a mechanism to control the field was emphasised.
The Assistant Head of Environment Department
added that the report noted the facts and provided strong evidence to be able
to do something, and to look at local planning policy.
Observations arising from the discussion
¾ It was noted that the
report was shocking and that the current system put the interests of wealthy
second home owners before those of Gwynedd residents. It was noted that the
work was a step forward in looking at the field.
¾ It was expressed that
the report noted that there were now 227 Airbnb units, showing an increase of
900%, as well as 10% of the county's housing stock being used as holiday homes.
It was noted that the report was one that should be presented to the Government
to demonstrate how serious the situation was in Gwynedd.
¾ It was emphasised that
the previous report had identified the need for housing for the people of
Gwynedd, and that this report noted that holiday homes counted for 10% of the
county's housing. The need to look into
the field was emphasised, as it currently allowed people to own second homes
while others were unable to purchase a house. It was noted that this had been
raised 20 years ago but without robust evidence; however, this work had
collated all the information and it was now time for action by the Government.
¾ The department was
thanked for producing the document, which would give us a factual base from
which to act.
Awdur:Gareth Jones
Supporting documents: