{"id":156295,"date":"2024-10-18T08:30:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/18\/pembrokeshire-second-home-council-tax-premium-reduced-to-150\/"},"modified":"2024-10-18T08:30:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:30:15","slug":"pembrokeshire-second-home-council-tax-premium-reduced-to-150","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/18\/pembrokeshire-second-home-council-tax-premium-reduced-to-150\/","title":{"rendered":"Pembrokeshire second home council tax premium reduced to 150%"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pembrokeshire<\/div>


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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A 200% council tax premium introduced in April trebled bills <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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One of Wales’ tourism hotspots has voted to make it cheaper to own a second home.<\/p>\n

Pembrokeshire councillors agreed to cut the extra council tax charge on second homes to 150%, just six months after a 200% rate was introduced. <\/p>\n

It comes despite warnings that it would lead to greater cuts to council services and a higher council tax rise for ratepayers in the county.<\/p>\n

This follows new Welsh government rules aimed at making it easier for people to buy homes where they grew up<\/a>, with powers given to councils to charge a second home council tax premium of up to 300% on top of the normal rate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But many Pembrokeshire councillors voiced their concerns over the financial impact of the cut, as it could add a further \u00a32.6m in cost pressures to an authority already facing a funding gap of more than \u00a330m.<\/p>\n

The independent amendment by councillor Huw Murphy to reduce the premium to 150% was supported by 30 votes to 26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tourism body Visit Pembrokeshire welcomed the decision as it said as tourism businesses had been hit “by the 182-day Welsh government policy, some to such an extent their businesses have been at risk of becoming unviable<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Council leader Jon Harvey said the data did not yet exist to assess the impact of the 200% second homes premium but that every 50% cut in the premium would equate to \u00a32.6m in lost income.<\/p>\n

Harvey also called into question which additional services would be cut to compensate for the reduction. <\/p>\n

Labour councillor Marc Tierney said it was “disappointing that people were unwilling to listen to the the economic reality” and described the premium cut as a “very bad decision”.<\/p>\n

A previous Conservative amendment by councillor Di Clements to cut the premium for second homes from 200% to 100% was rejected and the 150% premium will apply from April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Other areas of Wales, such as Ceredigion, have also brought in second home council tax premiums<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Many businesses in the Pembrokeshire town of Tenby welcomed the decision.<\/p>\n

Becky Munn, who has been running her shop Cariads since September, described the 200% as \u201cincredibly high\u201d and said she had seen a “huge increase” in properties that are second homes going up for sale as a result. <\/p>\n

Owners could avoid paying the premium for up to a year by putting their homes up for sale, which many chose to do as second homes for sale in Pembrokeshire have trebled since 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe less properties that are available for people to come and visit the area, it takes away the opportunity for people to spend money in the area,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Munn, who lives in Milford Haven, said she would like to live in Tenby to be nearer her business but could not afford a family home in the area.<\/p>\n

As a local person, and business owner, she said it feels like a \u201cCatch-22 situation\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Business<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Business owner Becky Munn says tourism makes up a large part of Tenby’s local economy<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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John Mather, owner of The Nook in Tenby, called any premium on second home owners “unfair”. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have great holidaymakers who are here all through the long season but we have peaks and troughs,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In those troughs the second home owners do spend well in town.”<\/p>\n

Matthew Ronowitz, who owns a restaurant in the centre of Tenby, said second home owners were \u201ca big chunk of our trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good U-turn, if they would have gone any further they would have seen the effects on the local economy and the tourism trade in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Business<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Matthew Ronowitz says the local economy would have been affected without the reduction in the second home premium<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Councillor Rhys Jordan from St Florence blamed the \u201chuge surge” in properties for sale on the 200% premium. <\/p>\n

He said they were generally one or two bedroom apartments not “suitable” for locals and claimed the council had been \u201ctoo hasty\u201d in bringing in the premium. <\/p>\n

Mr Jordan also claimed that tourism and hospitality businesses were reporting a reduction of 40-60% this season. <\/p>\n

His views were echoed by councillor Bethan Price, who said her area, St Davids, had been \u201ca lot quieter” and did not benefit from the money raised by the premium.<\/p>\n

Visit Pembrokeshire added: “It\u2019s very good news to learn that their voices have been heard.”<\/p>\n

But councillor Michelle Bateman said she could not support the cut as councillors “cannot keep burying their heads in the sand over the financial situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The council voted to support a recommendation to write to the Welsh government asking it to reduce the 182 days let threshold by which self-catering properties qualify for non-domestic rates.<\/p>\n

The decision on whether to increase the premium for long-term empty properties was deferred until the December council meeting. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Getty Images A 200% council tax premium introduced in April trebled bills One of Wales’ tourism hotspots has voted to make it cheaper to own a second home. Pembrokeshire councillors agreed to cut the extra council tax charge on second homes to 150%, just six months after a 200% rate was introduced. It comes despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[3483,148,90785,4154,1113,301],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156297,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156295\/revisions\/156297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}