Agenda item

To consider a report (copy attached) from the Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services with respect to the planning requirements in relation to these types of properties/dwelling.

11:00am – 11:45am

At this juncture, the Chair informed the Committee that the Lead Member, Councillor Win Mullen-James was unable to attend the meeting due to illness.

The Strategic Planning and Housing Manager, Angela Loftus, introduced the Planning Requirements in Relation to Second Homes and Short-Term Holiday Lets Report (previously circulated), to provide information on the current planning requirements and controls available in relation to second homes and short term holiday lets.

The report was confined to consideration of the use of market properties for second homes or short term holiday lets. A second home was defined for council tax purposes, as a dwelling which was not a person’s sole or main home and was substantially furnished.  A short term holiday let was generally considered to be where a property was let for the purposes of a holiday only; the guest would have a main home elsewhere and the let was for less than 3 months.

The Welsh Government had been reviewing the situation regarding second homes and short term holiday lets, addressing the impact on Wales’ communities.  The Welsh Government approach was to focus on:-

·         Support – addressing affordability and availability of housing;

·         Regulatory framework and system – covering planning law and the introduction of a statutory registration scheme for holiday accommodation; and

·         A fairer contribution – using national and local taxation systems to ensure second home owners make a fair and effective contribution to the communities in which they buy. 

There was to be a pilot area in Wales, to be decided over the summer, where the new measures would be trialled and evaluated before being considered for wider rollout.

Other supporting actions, including the work on a registration scheme for all holiday accommodation and a consultation on changes to local taxes to manage the impact of second homes and self-catered accommodation, were also to commence over the summer.

A Welsh Language Community Housing Plan, to protect the particular interests of Welsh language communities, would be published for consultation in the autumn.

Last year, Wales became the only country in the UK to give local authorities the power to charge 100% council tax increase on second homes.  The Welsh Government (WG) introduced this in 2017 and it was approved by Council at DCC in 2018.

The WG had undertaken a consultation exercise, which had closed in February 2022, on ‘Planning legislation and policy for second homes and short-term holiday lets’.  Whilst the results of the consultation were yet to be fully published, the three-pronged approach outlined in the WG’s press release formed part of the Government’s response to the findings of that consultation exercise.

During discussions the following points were raised:-

·         Concern was raised that some holiday homes were left empty during the winter months and this was frustrating as so many local people and families were looking for homes.

·         It was confirmed that Council Tax was an unhypothocated tax and therefore could not legally be earmarked/ring-fenced for specific purposes.   Currently, Council Tax for second homes in Denbighshire was charged at 150% but after April 2023 the local authority would be permitted to take a decision on whether to increase to 300%.

·         The decision as to whether a property was a second home or a holiday-let property and whether it was liable for National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) or Council Tax was determined by the Valuation Office and not the local authority.  Owners of properties that may qualify for registration as NNDR properties would have to apply to the Valuation Office for a determination, otherwise they would be liable to pay Council Tax.  The introduction of a licensing scheme for these types of properties may help reduce the number of properties that registered as NNDR properties and subsequently benefited from the Small Business Rate Relief provision which meant that they would not be paying any taxes despite the fact that people who stayed at the accommodation were able to access local services. 

·         It was agreed there needed to be a fair process as tourism was extremely important to the area but there was a need for local housing.

Councillor Brian Blakeley proposed the report, seconded by Karen Edwards.

Members unanimously:

RESOLVED: subject to the above observations -

(i) to receive the report; and

(ii) to request that an update report be presented to the Committee when the full results of the Welsh Government consultation were published.

At this juncture, the Chair thanked the officers for all their good work.