Item 7 is next, a debate on the Local Government and Housing Committee report on second homes. I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion. John Griffiths. 

Motion NDM8084 John Griffiths

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the report of the Local Government and Housing Committee, 'Second homes', which was laid in the Table Office on 9 June 2022.

Motion moved.

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I’m pleased to open today’s debate on the Local Government and Housing Committee’s report on second homes, and I would like to start by thanking all those who contributed to our inquiry.

As we all know, these issues are contentious in many communities across Wales. Although not all areas of the country are affected, many of our coastal and rural areas have high numbers of second homes. Combined with formerly residential properties switching to short-term holiday accommodation and a more widespread shortage of affordable homes, many communities feel their sustainability is under threat.

Second homes, of course, are not a new phenomenon in Wales, but, as house prices and the cost of living increase, coupled with more people taking holidays in Wales during the pandemic, people who have grown up or lived in affected communities are often unable to buy or rent homes in those areas. Some areas have seen such a reduction in permanent residents that public services are no longer viable, including the closure of schools. The seasonal nature of the visitor economy has also turned some communities into winter ghost towns, with many amenities closing during those quieter months. Of course, other parts of the UK have experienced similar problems due to high numbers of second homes, particularly Cornwall and the Lake district. In Wales, we also have to consider the impact on the Welsh language, especially as many of the affected communities are located in the traditional Welsh-speaking heartlands.

As second homes are impacting many communities in Wales, we decided that this would be the focus of our first inquiry as a committee. One of the main aims of our work was to examine the recommendations made by Dr Simon Brooks in his report, 'Second homes: Developing new policies in Wales', and the Welsh Government's response to those proposals. We made 15 recommendations in our report, and we are pleased that 14 have been accepted in full and one accepted in principle by the Welsh Government.

We know that addressing the issue of second homes is a priority for the Welsh Government and that a lot of work is already happening. During our inquiry, the Minister confirmed that a phased pilot scheme would be run in Dwyfor, Gwynedd, in order to test a number of interventions. We welcome that pilot and think that a proper evaluation of the measures being trialled there will be key to understanding whether these measures should be rolled out to other parts of our country. We are pleased that the Minister has committed to updating the Senedd every six months on the pilot and its effectiveness. We also welcome the Minister's confirmation that the pilot will be subject to a robust independent evaluation.

We believe it's important to be able to distinguish between holiday lets and second homes for personal use. We therefore welcome the Welsh Government's new use-class definitions, as we believe these provide an opportunity for greater consistency. Combined with a registration or licensing scheme for holiday accommodation, this can ensure a clear distinction is drawn between property types.

We heard a lot of evidence on the economic benefits of tourism to Wales, particularly in rural and coastal areas where many people rely on the tourism and hospitality industries for their livelihoods. However, it is important that the economic benefits are not outweighed by the negative impacts of second homes and short-term lets. The visitor economy is vital to Wales. It is therefore important that interventions aimed at protecting communities are targeted correctly to prevent unintended consequences.

We recommended that the evaluation of the Dwyfor interventions should include assessing the impact on tourism. In response, the Minister has said that, where feasible, the independent evaluation will include that impact, and that further exploratory work will take place to determine how this will be done. I would like to re-emphasise the importance of assessing the impact on the visitor economy to ensure that the many jobs reliant upon it are protected.

Much of the evidence we received placed second homes within a wider discussion about the availability of affordable housing. That is a problem across Wales, but coastal and rural areas have the additional issue of second homes to contend with. It is clear that a lack of affordable homes is an issue making some people, particularly young people, move away from the communities where they have grown up, and live further from their families and support networks. With fewer people of working age living in these areas, we are concerned that a dwindling workforce is impacting the ability of employers across public and private sectors to fill essential roles. Communities need people in order to survive. If high numbers of homes within towns and villages lie empty for large parts of the year, it is inevitable that a lack of customers will force businesses to close during the quieter periods, leaving remaining residents without those amenities.

We believe that increasing the availability of affordable housing is key to preventing the disappearance of sustainable, living communities. The Welsh Government is committed to delivering 20,000 new low-carbon social homes for rent across Wales, but building new homes isn’t the only solution. There are over 22,000 empty properties across our country. Bringing those back into use will make a significant contribution, so we would like to see greater progress being made. Our predecessor committee reported on this particular issue in October 2019, and the Minister has committed to providing an update on those recommendations by December this year.

The impact of second homes on the Welsh language was another key consideration of our work. We are concerned by the evidence that high numbers of second homes, particularly in Welsh-speaking heartlands, are having a detrimental impact on the number of Welsh speakers and the viability of Welsh as a community language in those areas. We therefore welcome the establishment of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities by the Welsh Government and its aim of making recommendations to strengthen policy in relation to the linguistic sustainability of communities. We’re pleased that the commission will be analysing the results of the 2021 census and other data, and that the work will involve analysing correlations between the density of second homes in communities and the number of Welsh speakers.

Llywydd, this is a very important issue to us, and particularly to people living in rural and coastal communities. We will be returning to this important issue during the term of this sixth Senedd to see how interventions have progressed. Diolch yn fawr.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

I refer Members to my own declaration of interest in terms of property ownership.

Now, all the way through, I know that the Welsh Labour Government started off by wanting to tackle the shortage of affordable homes in our communities, and it's fair to say that this group actually supports that endeavour. However, I have been very concerned, and I'm not alone; people within my own community and other communities across Wales have been corresponding with me, and they've now said that the slant has been directed in the wrong direction, because it's now seen to be, 'Let's go after people with second homes; let's go after people with holiday lets.'

Reading this report, alarm bells should be ringing for all of us who rely on tourism, when recommendation 4 says,

'The Welsh Government should commission further research on the impact tourism has on the sustainability of communities.'

Interestingly, the Home Owners of Wales Group suggested that second home owners contribute £235 million per year to the Welsh economy. Barmouth Town Council is critical of Dr Brooks's report, commenting that,

'There is no data in the report into the economic impact of holiday lets.' 

The UK Short Term Accommodation Association has highlighted the economic contribution of short-term lets, referring to a study by Oxford Economics on behalf of Airbnb, which estimated that guests using the platform had contributed a total of £107 million to the Welsh economy in 2019.

But, let me say here and now that there's a big difference between second homes, Airbnb properties and bona fide holiday lets. As the committee report states,

'We realise that there is insufficient data on the benefits brought by tourism compared to the detrimental impact of affected communities'.

Tourism is one—. I shouldn't have to tell you this, but tourism is one of the most fundamental economic backbones of Wales. In some constituencies, it’s the only industry. Plaid Cymru and you seem to have launched a major policy and legislative attack on the sector in an effort to try and justify why we haven’t had the houses built over the last 23 years.

You’ve accepted recommendation 1, requiring the Welsh Government to consider a definition of second homes, and pointed towards the introduction of three new planning classes: C3, primary homes; C5, secondary homes; and C6, short-term lets. However, there is a loophole that could undermine this. Anybody now living in Manchester could legitimately state that his house in Aberconwy is his primary home, and that his house in Manchester is his second home. So, bingo—it won’t affect him at all. So that means there are ways around this.

I do welcome the acceptance of recommendations 2 and 14 that we will now, Minister, be receiving six-monthly updates. I believe that what residents in Dwyfor and other crisis communities want to see is a good number of affordable homes available to buy and rent. Does this pilot achieve it? No.

The committee is right in recommendation 9, and I’ve said it several times, that the Welsh Government should lead by example, ensuring that land that you own, public land—. And you’ve got lots of land within the health boards, the local authorities—[Interruption.] Sorry—anyway, you can respond. Why they are not being put forward as suitable for development, I’ve no idea.

Gwynedd—let’s take Gwynedd. Why are we not ensuring that land on the edge of crisis communities like Nefyn is allocated in the LDP for social and affordable housing? Why are we not allowing our registered social landlords and good, functioning housing associations, like my colleague Sam Rowlands will know—? Cartrefi Conwy in Aberconwy: actually brilliant housing providers and they actually want to be able to build new houses for people. Consequently, the Welsh Conservatives would not only see new homes built for locals, but we would have a strong mechanism in place that means that we can hang on to our younger generations, because the lack of housing is one reason why people actually move out of the area.

I read with some despair your response to recommendation 10. Of course, the Welsh Government should work with, not against, private sector landlords and letting agents, but rather than referring to leasing scheme Wales as a sign of co-operation, we now need, Minister—. We have got an issue of this Government’s making in terms of what’s happening with second homes, and the threat of a 300 per cent council tax levy.

Just in the last month, I’ve been made aware in my own constituency of 51 section 1 eviction notices served. Now, this is a constituency that’s already seeing a temporary accommodation spend, so 51 families now are going to be displaced. So, we really do need to get down to the basics of what is a second home, acknowledge the value they bring, and bear in mind this isn’t just people coming in from England—I know people who have properties in Pembroke and have one over here. When they come into my constituency, they use our hairdressers, they use our gardeners—

You are going to need to bring your comments to a close now. I’ve been very generous.

I am, thank you. It is a really big issue. We’ve all said, Minister, that this is a multifaceted approach. However, targeting second home owners is a retrograde step. Both properties will just end up back on the market with Airbnb, people who can afford them more, and we’ll end up as Airbnb. Thank you.

I also declare an interest that’s on the public record as well.

Colleagues, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this debate. It was a pleasure to be part of the inquiry, and I thank the Chair for his leadership during this inquiry.

It was a timely inquiry, and it demonstrates a cross-party consensus. There is a recognition here that our rural and coastal communities are in the midst of a housing crisis, and that second homes contribute significantly to that. There is also acknowledgement here of the need to take action to tackle this, and of the action that should be taken.

And I see that crisis daily in my constituency in Dwyfor Meirionnydd, from Aberdyfi to Abersoch, from Beddgelert to Llandderfel. Good people have been campaigning and drawing attention to this issue for half a century, and now, at last, the issue is receiving the recognition it deserves and the Government, by working together with us in Plaid Cymru, is presenting solutions. 

The sad truth, of course, is that many of our communities have lost a large part of their character; they have become soulless and empty communities, with public services becoming more remote and people moving away. There is hope, however: look at the small village of Rhyd near Llanfrothen, which was once a village full of holiday homes, but has now been regenerated. We should not, therefore, give up on hope.

I think that the committee's experience in this regard is quite unique for the Senedd, because we started our work before the Government announced its various consultations and then the changes that are in the offing. But, this action by the Government, as part of the co-operation agreement with us in Plaid Cymru, is very welcome, and it was interesting to follow the trajectory of the proposals by the Government as we undertook our consultation.

Consider the steps now in place: increasing the land transaction tax; modifying the planning system in order to introduce a change of use for these homes, which will mean that authorities can control the number of second homes in our communities; a licensing system for short-term holiday lets. All of these and more are things that we in Plaid Cymru have been advocating for years, and now they are being implemented. Thank goodness for that.

This report from the committee talks about the work that is going on in Dwyfor and in the Gwynedd area. But, I would like to know from the Minister what plans there are to ensure that these plans continue into the long term, in view of the economic challenges facing local authorities, and also what steps are being taken to ensure that other areas, such as Pembrokeshire, Anglesey and Swansea, can implement these actions.

This discussion today is timely in the context of the Bevan Foundation report that was released last week, looking at the impact of Airbnb on our communities. You know that I have been raising this issue for some time, and I have been arguing that this is what is undermining the self-catering sector. The evidence from the Bevan Foundation is testimony of that, and is frightening. At the end of spring this year, 22,000 homes in Wales were registered on that platform, with almost 60 per cent of them on the Airbnb platform suitable for people to live in.

As a percentage of the private housing stock, that is much greater, with Airbnb homes equating to a third of Gwynedd's private housing stock, and a fifth of Anglesey and Ceredigion's private housing stock. This puts enormous pressure on the rental sector in these areas, with rental values being driven up, and fewer homes for rent on the market. Indeed, the report states that it would take just six weeks for an owner to make the same amount of money on a four-bedroom house through Airbnb as the owner could make by renting the house out locally on the local housing allowance scale. The system has been set up, therefore, to ensure that the greatest financial value is extracted at the expense of putting a permanent roof over people's heads.

This also reminds us of what my colleague Rhun ap Iorwerth has raised several times, namely the case of the Bodorgan estate, which is going through a process of evicting people with the intention of turning those homes into holiday homes, adding to the homelessness crisis. Rhun, as we know, has done everything within his ability to help those people, but it shows that there is a great need for action.

Recommendations 11 and 12 of the report are therefore very important, namely the impact of this on Welsh-speaking communities. Therefore, although it's the environment Minister who will be responding, as Welsh-speaking communities are under the remit of the education Minister, I wonder whether the Minister for the environment could confirm whether the commission on Welsh-speaking communities will be looking at the challenges facing home renters as well as home buyers in those communities. Thank you very much.

There is a dire shortage of properties to buy and rent. Everyone should be entitled to one. Everyone should be entitled to a home, and yet 25,000 properties in Wales stand empty. The reality of the impact of second homes was clear to me whilst visiting a village in north-west Wales, seeing the amount of unlived-in two and three-bedroom properties that would have made really good starter homes. Some, I was told, were holiday homes, but some—well, quite a few—were in a state of disrepair and just left. One was an extremely useful bungalow, which are in scarce supply in the community, and the community had tried to buy it from a resident who didn't live in the village, but he said he was keeping it as a retirement investment, even though he was of retirement age.

Previously, I was aware of the term 'land banking', but what I saw was 'property banking' on a mass scale. To have so many empty properties wasted when there are so many people needing a roof over their head, a place to call home, is truly shocking. A right to a decent home, a proper education and healthcare is fundamental to well-being and what every person needs and deserves. Solutions, however, are complex and vary depending on areas, but there is no one size that fits all. And the definition of a second home is important. There is a difference between someone letting out a property as a holiday let, or someone having a property as a second home and just visiting occasionally. This must be balanced with the benefits that tourism brings, as we found.

But, our focus must also be on the cost-of-living and housing crisis that will impact the vulnerable the most. The Bevan Foundation reported that the local housing allowance only covered 4 per cent of properties in Wales. It was frozen in 2016 and again in 2020. This is shameful of UK Government, who want to cut public service funding and benefits further. Some landlords are flipping to Airbnbs, as according to a Bevan Foundation report, in some areas, they can earn more in 10 weeks than they would on a full-time rental through the local housing allowance. And that is a central issue we face—the idea that homes are an asset for the wealthy to make a profit from rather than a right that everyone should be entitled to. There are many actions that need to be taken to reverse the damage that has been done since Thatcher.

Tackling the number of second homes is just part of this. Rent controls, more social housing, and council house building—returning back to that again—will also be needed to protect tenants, while increasing the supply of housing. UK Government public sector funding over the last 12 years makes this much harder. Officers are overworked and overstretched, meaning planning takes longer. This goes back again to public service funding, to ensure that those that work in councils that have to deal with planning applications can actually get on with the job. I know the Minister is well aware of the challenges we face, and I trust that the Welsh Government will do what it can to address them. Thank you.

Firstly, can I put on record my thanks to John Griffiths for his chairmanship in producing today's committee report on second homes, and also to my fellow colleagues on the committee, and the Minister, clerks and the committee support team who have come along and given evidence and supported us as a committee through this process? Of course, the issue around second homes has been a contentious issue for a long time in Wales, for a number of years, and that's why it's really important, as a committee, I believe, that we got stuck into this very early on in our formation as a committee. As we know, a lot of the Senedd's best work comes from committees and, in light of this, it was really encouraging to see, Minister, you accept 14 of the 15 recommendations, and accept one in principle as well. So, thank you for your engagement in this process as well.

In my contribution today, I'd like to put on record also my acknowledgement that it's certainly a challenge with the proportion of second homes in some communities in Wales. This came through clearly in the work we carried out as a committee. But also what came through clearly was that this challenge is by no means evenly split across Wales. The example that struck me during our work as a committee was that, in Abersoch, you're looking at around 50 per cent of the properties there that are either second homes or holiday homes, whereas a few miles up the road in Caernarfon about 0.5 per cent of the properties there fall into that category. So, the differences across communities are vast in places that aren't that far apart.

During our committee’s work, we found that some of our coastal and rural areas have some of the highest numbers of second homes, and combined with formerly residential properties switching to short-term holiday accommodation and some of the issues around affordability of homes in communities, those communities were certainly feeling that their sustainability is under threat. It was data from August last year that showed that Gwynedd had the highest number of second homes—about 9.5 per cent of the properties there. Anglesey was at 8.1 per cent and Ceredigion at 5.2 per cent, certainly highlighting those rural and coastal communities having to deal with this challenge the most across the country.

I was really grateful again to receive the amount of correspondence that I did from residents and from interested parties around this issue in their communities. I'm sure this is what also partly led us to recommendation 7 of our report, which states that

'The Welsh Government should clarify how local and national strategies will ensure a sufficient supply of housing that is of the appropriate type to meet local requirements and affordable in the context of local earnings.'

I think it's a really important recommendation that that understanding of nuance across Wales is coming through in strategy and in policy. In addition to this, we've found out that the second homes issue has been exacerbated following the COVID-19 pandemic, of course. We certainly want to welcome people into Wales and give them a warm welcome. However, recommendation 13 that states that

'The Welsh Government should commission research on the impact of...the Covid-19 pandemic on housing trends to assess the scale of movement from urban to rural and coastal areas.'

I was really pleased to see that recommendation in our report. One thing I'd like to perhaps focus on is the understanding of the issue around the number of houses being built in our rural communities as well, and the context of second homes within that. We know that of the nearly 1.4 million properties in Wales, the data we were using when the report was published showed that just under 20,000 of those properties are classified as second homes. That's 1.4 per cent of all the properties in Wales. It's 1.4 per cent that are second homes. Whilst I clarified this at the start of my contribution, that it's such an issue in some communities, the context of that number is not as significant, perhaps, as some would want us to believe.

The impact of such a negative message to our tourism industry has already been highlighted here today, and we were reminded in taking evidence that it's the tourism sector in Wales that accounts for 17.6 per cent of gross domestic product, and employs over 12 per cent of our residents in the country. That's why I welcomed recommendation 4, actually, which calls on the Welsh Government to commission further research on the impact of tourism on the sustainability of communities, because this sector is so important to our communities in terms of jobs and future opportunities.

Llywydd, I know time is running, so I'm going to just quickly canter through this last point here, which is actually around the importance around recommendation 8 in all of this, which states that the Welsh Government needs to provide an update to the Senedd on how it intends to achieve its target to build another 20,000 new social homes within this Senedd term, along with recommendation 10 from our report, which is seeking further efforts from the Welsh Government about how it's going to work with the private sector to develop more properties, especially in these communities where they are finding it difficult with the number of second and holiday homes.

Thank you, Llywydd, for just giving me a few more moments there. I'd like to thank again the committee and all those who contributed to what I think is a really helpful report in looking to how we deal with some of the challenges around second homes. Diolch.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important debate today.

As the report indeed notes, second homes are not a new phenomenon. Plaid Cymru has been pushing for action to combat this issue for decades. The issue of second homes has become worse and worse for many of our communities across Wales, whether that's in our rural Welsh-speaking heartlands or indeed in our urban centres. The present housing crisis facing communities across Wales, driven in part by second homes and short-term holiday accommodation, is characterised by the inability of those who live in or have grown up in a community to buy or rent homes in said areas. The crisis means that many public services become unviable. Schools close, shops close, community facilities close. Communities erode and ultimately disappear.

Let's be clear: this is not just a rural issue. The effects of second homes on our rural heartlands are disastrous, for the rural economy, for our culture, for our language, for people. It goes without saying. But the housing crisis is just as prevalent in urban regions, such as the one I represent. Gentrification is tearing the fabric of these communities apart. Today, in my capacity as Plaid Cymru's spokesperson on communities, I'd like to take some time to also concentrate on the eighth recommendation, as we heard from Sam earlier, in the committee's report, and the Welsh Government's response to it. Recommendation 8 states that

'The Welsh Government should provide an update to the Senedd on how it intends to achieve its target of building 20,000 new social homes within the term of this Senedd. We would like the update to include a breakdown of where it intends these new homes to be built, according to the demand and need of communities.'

Now, the Government has accepted this recommendation, at least in principle, but questions still remain regarding the housing target. Given the scale of the housing need in Wales, many have questioned whether this target is sufficient. I welcome the Government's ambition to deliver 20,000 homes, of course I do, but is the target ambitious enough? Minister, how do you know whether you're actually fully meeting the nation's housing need? We're in the midst of one of the worst cost-of-living crises in living memory. Combined with the effects of Brexit, we have a perfect storm for our supply chains and our construction workforce. In the light of the increased costs of construction materials, the costs associated with construction and the effects of Brexit on the workforce, how is the Welsh Government going to reach their construction targets?

Moving on, over the summer, I was fortunate to visit Vienna to study their policy on social and affordable housing. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. Vienna has been world-leading in the provision of social and affordable housing for over a century. Today, 60 per cent of Vienna's—

Can I just cut across? I can see that Mark Isherwood is requesting an intervention. I don't know whether you're prepared to take one. 

Yes, certainly. 

Okay. This is all being done very politely. Mark Isherwood. 

Diolch. Thank you very much indeed. I think it's about 18 or 19 years since I first highlighted to the then Welsh Government the fact that there would be an affordable housing crisis in Welsh communities if the then cuts to social housing weren't reversed. But do you share my concern that the latest published figures for quarter 2 of 2022 show that, once again, new home completions in Wales went in reverse, and it's the only nation or region once again in the UK where they actually reduced?

That's certainly a very good point there by Mark, and maybe the Minister can pick up that point when she comes to respond. 

As I said, I was in Vienna and over 60 per cent of those citizens live in social and affordable housing. But in Vienna, it was clear that the construction efforts were about more than just housing; they were about building communities—real communities, where people's needs were met, where communal facilities, green space, medical centres, transport links, childcare and more were integrated seamlessly into residential areas. If Vienna could achieve this over 100 years ago, why can't we do it today? I guess my question here in relation to housing targets is: how are you ensuring that we're not just building houses but that we're actually building functioning communities, with all the facilities that communities need? Diolch yn fawr.

The Minister for Climate Change to contribute to the debate—Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. I would like to start by recording, also, my thanks to the Local Government and Housing Committee, particularly the Chair, for their in-depth and considered inquiry into the complex issue of second homes. On behalf of my Cabinet colleagues, I responded to the committee's report and recommendations, all of which we have accepted. We are, and were in many cases, putting those to practical effect through our cross-Government activity and our close working with Plaid Cymru on this matter. 

As you know, responding to the challenges set by large numbers of second homes and short-term holiday lets requires a holistic and integrated response. We set this out in my statement on our cross-Government three-pronged approach, and it is also a key feature of our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru. We are committed to immediate, radical, effective and balanced measures to ensure that we tackle the challenges head on and provide further support for people to be able to live affordably in their home communities. This challenge has undoubtedly been made significantly more complex due to the cost-of-living crisis and the market turmoil, and particularly turmoil in the housing market caused by the Government's—I don't know what they call it any more—mini budget I think they've now accepted it was, and the withdrawal of so many mortgage products from first-time buyers in particular. How the Conservatives can stand there and criticise us for what we're doing, given the complete and utter misery and turmoil they've created in the housing market, I fail to understand. 

Anyway, we have worked with pace and vigour to take a number of significant steps over the course of the year. Llywydd, I will rapidly set out the range of activities that is being undertaken today, as it is extensive and I have very little time, and I will outline then how we continue to move forward. Last week, as promised in the First Minister and Adam Price's 4 July statement, we laid regulations affording local planning authorities far greater control over future numbers of second homes and short-term holiday lets in their communities where local evidence demonstrates that there is a problem. This will allow local authorities to take much more account of local circumstances.

We have been and we will continue working with local planning authorities in Gwynedd and Snowdonia National Park as part of the Dwyfor pilot. We're supporting them to build a common evidence base that can be used to inform all local policy interventions. I've also committed to supporting operating costs, as we draw lessons and make an assessment of cost and impact. This learning will be of national benefit. Although I will say there, in direct response to Mabon, that, of course, the rules apply to everyone now, but we're particularly working with the pilot areas to understand their resource significance. So, that's not to say that other places can't continue to do it, but we're particularly looking to gather data on what the resource implications to the local authorities are—just to make that point really clear.

Of course, we'd already introduced a range of measures, including changes to the upper limit for discretionary council tax premiums and second and long-term empty homes. The changes will have effect from 1 April next year and local authorities are able to consult now and then act on their decisions—I know that Gwynedd is already doing this—to make balanced choices about an appropriate premium to reflect local circumstances. We've also made changes to the letting criteria for self-catering accommodation to be classified as non-domestic, and liable for non-domestic rates, rather than domestic and liable for council tax. These measures, aligned with the changes being made to the planning framework, provide us and local authorities with a toolbox to manage more effectively future numbers of second homes and short-term lets.

Of course, we recognise the contribution that fair tourism has to make, but we cannot continue to see communities being hollowed out. This balanced and robust package of interventions is unparalleled in the UK context and demonstrates how seriously we have been and are taking the situation. More broadly, we're working on a number of complementary actions, working with local authorities in terms of options and possible local flexibility on land transaction tax for second homes and short-term holiday lets. This would help us respond further to uneven distribution of second homes across Wales and indeed, within authority areas as well.

We are continuing to explore options to bring more empty homes back into full-time use. We've also delivered training to local authorities in the use of their compulsory purchase powers and we have a number of schemes to bring empty home properties back into beneficial use, including a system of grants and the lease scheme, and so on, for which, Llywydd, I refer many Members who've raised that today to my many previous statements on the subject, where we've outlined a large number of interventions that we're taking.

The First Minister and Adam Price also confirmed their commitment as part of the co-operation agreement to introduce a statutory licensing scheme for all visitor accommodation, and we will be bringing forward a consultation on our proposals in the coming months. The scheme will make it a requirement to obtain a licence to operate visitor accommodation, including short-term holiday lets, and will help raise standards across the tourism industry and improve data supporting future planning decisions. And just to address directly the contribution made by Janet and more extensively by Sam, obviously, we want people to come on holiday to Wales. Obviously, we want them to have second homes and to take advantage of holiday lets here, but what we want is a sustainable community. If you speak to people who come here who do have second homes or holiday lets, they don't want to come to a place where there's nobody living and there are no shops and pubs; they want to come to a thriving community and to experience that. So, this isn't about driving them out; it's about spreading them out and to make sure that we have sustainable communities in every area. So, I just want to make that abundantly clear. This isn't about not being welcoming; it's about making sure that the experience that people have when they come to Wales is a good one and it's a good one because we have a sustainable, thriving community using the Welsh language and bringing all of the cultural benefits that that brings. So, this isn't an anti agenda at all; it's a pro agenda—pro our effective communities and pro our cultures.

So, just to directly address the consultation on the draft Welsh language communities housing plan, as Mabon said, this is entirely my colleague Jeremy Miles's portfolio, but obviously, we work very closely together on this as they overlap considerably. At the National Eisteddfod, the Minister for Education and Welsh Language trailed some of the focus of his Welsh language communities housing plan. We're about to release details of that. Generally, though, the aim of the plan is to support Welsh-speaking communities that have high densities of second homes, bringing together issues relating to housing, community development, economy and language planning. At the Eisteddfod, the Minister also launched a commission for Welsh-speaking communities. They will undertake an in-depth study of the sustainability of Welsh-speaking communities, including the effects of high densities of second homes, and provide a report within two years. And yes, Mabon, of course that will include private rented sector and any other form of tenure; the idea being to have a fully mixed and fully sustainable community, able to continue using the Welsh language as they want.

We'll provide further updates, as per the committee's recommendation on the developments in the pilot area. Already, we've worked closely and effectively with Gwynedd Council and Grŵp Cynefin to amend the criteria and guidance for our homebuy scheme, for example. I've backed this up by making £8.5 million available over three years to help people get a foot on the housing ladder. This is already bearing fruit, and I look forward to a number of additional completions coming forward shortly. We've also established operational and strategic groups for the pilot and we are working with our partners to see how, for example, local authority mortgages can be beneficial in these difficult times. This is, again, a commitment as part of the co-operation agreement. The pilot is and will be a fertile testing ground for this and other interventions and the use of existing and new powers.

So, Llywydd, we are taking bold, pacy and immediate steps across a range of areas to address these complex issues in a concerted way, as we said we would. Again, I would like to thank the committee and those who gave evidence as part of its inquiry. The work really builds on our knowledge and understanding and it's very welcome indeed, so, diolch yn fawr. I and colleagues were very pleased to accept the committee's recommendations, which are appropriately stretching and will help add further to our understanding and commitment to address some of the issues in areas where we have unbalanced distributions of second homes and short-term lets. We will, of course, look forward to updating the Senedd, as we continue to make progress on this agenda and in fulfilling our commitment to responding practically to the recommendations.

Just very briefly, Llywydd, on housing supply, which I do not have time to cover here, I will be making a statement to the Senedd later on in this autumn term on house completions, which we will have the data for later on. There is, of course, and will remain work to do, but we are working flat out to ensure that we and local authorities in Wales have the right tools to better manage the mixed use of properties in our communities and that we have sustainable, thriving Welsh-speaking communities across Wales. Diolch yn fawr.

John Griffiths, the Chair to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Llywydd. May I thank everyone for their contributions to the debate today? I think everybody understands that this is a very important, but complex area, and that much is happening, but much needs to be done.

I would just say to Janet Finch-Saunders, who was the first to contribute, following my opening of the debate, Llywydd, that we do recognise, obviously, the tensions around tourism, the importance of tourism to these areas, and that was mentioned by others in the debate as well. Obviously, it is a balance, but our recommendation that there is proper evaluation of the impact on tourism, I think, is very important. But we do have to recognise—I think you said, Janet, that second home owners are using local services, using local businesses. But we do know that some second home owners may be in those properties for, perhaps, a weekend, a week or two weeks in a whole year, and we heard from the Minister that that can lead to a hollowing-out of communities. They may be ghost towns in the winter, because those businesses and services are not able to operate during those months because there aren't enough people around to use them, and they're not living, sustainable communities, which we've heard is so important, if that hollowing-out takes place.

I think Mabon ap Gwynfor has clearly shown his commitment to these issues, and, obviously, they're very important for Mabon in his own local area, and I commend Mabon on that commitment and his work on the committee on this matter. Obviously, that co-operation agreement between Labour, the Welsh Government and Plaid has been very important in terms of additional focus. And I think we now are in a position, aren't we, where we've got, as the Minister described, a whole range of actions taking place, really important actions to get to the absolute heart of these matters in terms of what will move the dial, as we say, and what will make a real difference on the ground.

It's absolutely right that there should be that pilot in Dwyfor so that we properly evaluate, monitor and make sure that, when we move forward for the whole of Wales, we've got a really solid evidence base that tells us what works, what might not work and what unintended consequences there might be. So, that evidence-based approach, through that pilot and the other work that we've recommended and Welsh Government has accepted, I do think is absolutely crucial.

That stark contrast that Members drew between Airbnb properties and those that might think about the local housing allowance and the revenue that would bring is just incredibly stark, isn't it? It really does show, through the work of the Bevan Foundation and others, what needs to be addressed in terms of the relative attractiveness of particular uses of properties and what will deliver those liveable, sustainable communities. And those points were made by Carolyn Thomas as well. And Carolyn also mentioned the right to housing, and it is a basic right, isn't it? And we had a very important event in the Pierhead just the other week where housing organisations, housing associations and others, talked about the importance of that right to housing and what might happen in Wales if we had the legislation in place that would really make that right a reality right across our country. And that's a campaign that will go on and build.

Could I commend Sam Rowlands as well for his work on the committee and the balanced approach that he's taken throughout, and I think again demonstrated today, trying to get that balance between the importance of tourism, for example, and addressing these contentious issues in particular parts of Wales, especially, again, as Sam highlighted, areas like Gwynedd, Ynys Môn and Ceredigion, and then the importance of looking at other areas of Wales and lessons that we need to learn?

Peredur, thank you for talking about Vienna. It's a really good example of how you take a whole-community approach to these matters and build communities, looking at green spaces, services and community needs. And on that, I think we can take heart from what the Minister has said on many different occasions, which very much recognises the need for that approach and the various measures that are being taken to establish that approach.

I'd just like to close then, Llywydd, by recognising the work that's taken place and the work that is in train. It really is significant. It's not just tokenistic—it is getting to the absolute heart of the challenges that we face in those particular areas of Wales, but across our country. And I very much welcomed that setting out of actions that the Minister has put before us here today—the acceptance of all those recommendations and that very strong commitment from the Minister to sustainable communities, the importance of the Welsh language, the importance of the work of the commission that's being set up and the fertile testing ground of the pilot, as the Minister described it. I think we are wrestling with some very difficult issues, but we have set in train actions, evaluation and monitoring that will allow us to proceed on that evidence-based basis. Thank you very much.

The proposal is to note the committee's report. Does any Member object? No. The motion is therefore agreed.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.