Anti-second homes campaigners win talks with top politician

Councillors from a town council in Wales are to be given an audience with the country’s First Minister to discuss the impact of second homes on Welsh-speaking communities.

Members of Nefyn town council have already staged a number of high-profile protests on the issue, notably a 20 mile publicity walk in September, complaining about properties being snapped up as holiday lets at an "alarming rate".

Nefyn claims to have seen a surge in the purchase of second homes since the lockdown, and recently called on the Welsh Government to grant it powers to insist anyone wanting to use their home for an AirBnb let to have to seek full planning permission.

The council claims the glut of second homes is“pricing people out of the very communities they were raised in” according to quotes from authority members in the local media.

The same council is calling for a redefinition of "affordable housing" to reflect the average salary which is as low as £16,000 in parts of Gwynedd.

Separately, an online petition has been launched to stop second home owners in Wales voting in the country’s elections. 

The petition - labelled ‘Ensure owners of second homes and holiday lets in Wales register to vote only at their primary address in devolved and local elections’ - has attracted over 1,000 signatures and has been run by Gorau i Gymrum, the ‘Best for Wales’ group, which organised a protest on Anglesey recently against a rise in second home ownership on the island.