Madam,

Re the extra council tax on second homes.

Since 2003 my wife and I have been lucky enough to own a modest property in beautiful West Wales.

We are not “rich English”. This is a holiday home bought when I retired and purchased from savings and pension commutation to replace holidays both abroad and in other parts of the country.

Had we bought in England at that time we would, in a number of locations, qualified for council tax relief of up to 50 per cent on account of it being a “second” home where we were making little demand on public services. No, we chose Wales where we have paid full council tax from day one, despite the fact that the facilities and services provided to our little community are vastly inferior to those we enjoy in Old Windsor where our council tax bill is only marginally higher.

Indeed after we had purchased our property we were contacted by The Land Registry inviting us to re-claim the stamp duty because we were buying into a “deprived area”. Over the years we have maintained and made modest improvements to the property, always using local businesses and tradespeople. When we have visited we have shopped locally, visited local attractions and made use of restaurants, cafes and facilities. We have been pleased to “do our bit” for the Welsh economy.

How are we repaid? I learned today that from next April our council tax will rise by 25 per cent or £400 a year, with the prospect of it rising by 100 per cent over the coming years.Guess what? On our next visit we will again be using a local business. We will be enlisting the services of an estate agent and our holiday home will be put on the market. Ceredigion County Council will lose our council tax, the local economy will lose our business and we will be circa £5,000 a year better off.As I understand it this “pre-mium” policy has been voted through by the Cabinet, with no consultation, and no appeal. How short-sighted can the council be? It kind of begs the question whether any Cabinet member has ever studied even rudimentary finance or economics.

In my particular case, and looking at the 10 or so properties in our little hamlet of Troed-y-Rhiw I would venture to suggest that the next owner of our bungalow will be paying less council tax than we are due to being on some form of benefit or a sole occupier, and will probably have even less disposable income to spend in the community. They will probably also have a far greater need of public services. How on earth can this make economic sense?

Yours etc

S C Broadbent

Straight Road

Windsor