THE grieving mother of a girl who loved to visit the family’s second home in Tywyn is “heartbroken” that she may have to sell it, now Gwynedd is doubling council tax for second-home owners.

Jane Robinson from the West Midlands bought a house and adapted it for daughter Kaysie, who was born with various disabilities associated with cerebral palsy.

Kaysie sadly died in March 2018, but the family continued to visit the house, known as Kaysie’s special place. But now Gwynedd Council has approved plans to increase second home premiums to 100 per cent, Jane is worried she will be forced to sell the house.

She said: “It is heartbreaking this is the way the council needed to get the money to buy more houses for local people.

“I ploughed everything I had into this holiday home. I’m devastated at the moment. I’m going to talk to my family about helping out with the house and making it so they could use the house during the year. I think I’m going to have to sell, though.

“We made this house our own. It was adapted for Kaysie and it was a house my family loved to visit. It, and Tywyn are our retreat.

“It was a chance for us to visit the beach which I loved as a child, and my son loves now and what Kaysie loved. To lose this place which we use to get away from it all, it’s overwhelming. I can’t put it into words.

“I’ve been in touch with the council to appeal against having to pay the 50 per cent premium on our home as we haven’t been able to even check on it for months due to the travel restrictions. They said there won’t be any rebates for holiday homes as there were only travel restrictions in place, yet that meant I couldn’t get to Tywyn.

“I feel they’ve used the fact there are no guidelines for council tax rebates on second home properties that are inaccessible due to travel restrictions, rather than being understanding and looking at some kind of rebate to help.

“Not all second home owners are well off and now I’m definitely faced with having to try to sell my beautiful beloved Kaysie’s Retreat. I’m devastated to say the least, at an already hard time of the year for me as Kaysie passed away three years ago on 10 March.”

A Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: “60 per cent of local people are priced out of the housing market in Gwynedd. At the same time, Gwynedd has the highest percentage of holiday homes in Wales. Our priority as a council is to address this situation and to help ensure a suitable supply of housing for local people to live in their communities.

“Whilst it would not be appropriate for the council to discuss individual cases, we extend our sympathies to Ms Robinson and our officers would be happy to discuss and resolve any unclear circumstances directly with the relevant taxpayers.”