EXCLUSIVE Row over second home clampdown in Welsh beauty spot: Council warns all new holiday let will need planning permission in bid to tackle 'over tourism' - but locals say move will crash local housing market By Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline Published: 07:21 BST, 6 August 2024 | Updated: 07:21 BST, 6 August 2024 e-mail View comments A Welsh council's controversial plan to force people to get planning permission for second homes and holiday lets will blight the local economy and 'crash' the local housing market, critics have warned. The Welsh-speaking heartland of Gwynedd in North Wales is a popular tourist spot where more than six per cent of properties are second homes, one of the highest rates in the UK. Councillors are concerned 'over-tourism' is making property prices unaffordable for locals, and last week forced through a move to require homeowners to obtain property permission before converting their properties from September.
Opponents fear the so-called Article 4 direction, which will not apply to existing second homes or holiday lets, could devalue every residential property in the local authority area and deal a hammer blow to the tourism industry. In the upmarket seaside village of Abersoch – popular with wealthy visitors including Bradley Cooper and Bear Grylls - residents told MailOnline the measure was 'madness'. Clothes store owner Suzie Hookes, a 43-year-old mother of two, wants to sell her £500,000 detached house but is worried.