Editor

The comments by Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged, (‘Bona fide holiday lets will get grants’ page 3, 30 April).

Justifying the delay in forwarding the £10,000 grant to FHL (Furnished Holiday Let) owners Cllr Siencyn “there was a real possibility that up to £18 million of public money could have been paid to second-home owners who had deliberately transferred to business rates to avoid paying any tax”.

Given that the procedure for registering a property as a business requires proof of that property having been let at commercial rates for a minimum number of nights set by the Welsh Government this seems unlikely.

Furthermore, given that roughly three quarters of all FHLs are owned by people who are resident in Gwynedd, the councillor is suggesting that a significant number of local residents are defrauding their own council. It has been the narrative of Plaid Cymru for some time now that ‘wealthy secondhome owners’ are somehow defrauding the system on a mass scale, utilising a ‘loophole’ in the law, and yet there is no evidence to support this claim.

Indeed the evidence says exactly the opposite. In fact in October 2019 the Welsh Government specifically said it did not agree there was a loophole in the law, but this narrative is continually repeated and allowed to stand.

Cllr Siencyn is either deliberately trying to stir up resentment against FHLs, a vital component of Gwynedd’s largest industry (tourism) and likely one of the first parts of that industry that could be safely reopened when the current Covid-19 lockdown is eventually eased, or else he is ignorant of the facts. Either alternative is disappointing, to say the least, in the leader of a county council whose economy depends so heavily upon the tourist sector, and to hear him repeatedly make claims that the Welsh Government themselves have said are not true, is frankly disgraceful.

David Brown, Chairman, Barmouth Publicity Association Iain Paterson, Tywyn Chamber of Tourism and Commerce Richard Bond, Finest retreats

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