What the………! What on earth are Gwynedd Council (North Wales) doing with article 4? For those who don’t know, article 4 is new planning legislation, which comes into effect September 2024. If you want to change your main home into a holiday let, you have to get planning permission, it has to go through the whole process and will take over a year for the process to complete. Councils will decide on the basis if they think there are too many holiday lets in the area you will not get permission.
Tourism makes a significant contribution to the Welsh economy. Prior to the pandemic, the Welsh tourism sector was estimated to directly contribute £2.4 billion to Wales’ GDP (about 5% of the total) and provided an estimated 161,000 jobs (12.1% of all employment in Wales). Published 12th July 2023 UK Parliament.
The paragraph above published by the UK Parliament this year, it shows how much Wales depends on tourism. This new legislation “Article 4” will drive down second home ownership, which will drive down tourism, it will also cause house prices to fall. This is dictatorship, telling us what we can and can’t do with our homes. They are destroying the tourist industry, destroying the economy, trying to force down house prices, trying to make them affordable, because they think locals will be able to afford them. This is not the way to create affordable housing. They sold off all the affordable housing they had by selling them to council tenants, and not replacing them with the funds. We are the ones now suffering because of their failings, and at the same time trashing the economy. Who is making these ridiculous decisions, certainly not an economist and most certainly a dim wit……
Thanks for reading.
Gwynedd Council “Article 4” tourism destruction!
Re: Gwynedd Council “Article 4” tourism destruction!
This came to Scotland last year. I was initially quite annoyed by it, but actually the process was pretty painless and 99.9% of FHL's were approved within six months.
The people having issues are the Air BnB party flat type places with anti-social behaviour, etc. Everyone else has carried on normal jogging. This is what the legislation is designed to target, not your reputable holiday home owner.
A few people have since stopped doing the lets and either have it as a holiday home for themselves or sold up, but not enough to make a difference.
The people having issues are the Air BnB party flat type places with anti-social behaviour, etc. Everyone else has carried on normal jogging. This is what the legislation is designed to target, not your reputable holiday home owner.
A few people have since stopped doing the lets and either have it as a holiday home for themselves or sold up, but not enough to make a difference.