Madam,

I fully support Dr Linda Goodyear’s letter to your newspaper on the subject of second homes in Gwynedd .

I am Welsh. My family has lived and farmed in north Wales for hundreds of years. I own a second home in Gwynedd for which I must now pay an additional 50 per cent council tax.

Like many Welshmen, I left north Wales to join the Army. Ten years ago I had saved enough money to purchase a small cottage in Gwynedd. This gave me and my family a small piece of Wales to call home, while continuing to live in the south of England due to work commitments.

I do not rent out my cottage to make money and am more than happy to pay local taxes at the same rate as everyone else in Gwynedd. I would add that in the past, second-home owners received a 10 per cent discount on their council tax!

Mrs Saville Roberts’ assertion that I am depriving young Welsh people of purchasing a home by driving up house prices is laughable.

There are many starter homes for sale in Gwynedd for less than £100,000 (343 properties currently registered on Rightmove) plus numerous semi-derelict houses that could be renovated in towns, villages, and rural locations throughout the county.

In the south-east of England, where unlike Gwynedd there is a genuine shortage of affordable housing, these same properties sell for over £300,000!

My cottage, and the three other properties in the local area which are also second homes, were derelict buildings until the new owners spent large sums of money with local builders - who employ local Welsh people - to renovate them.

Young people are not interested in these old farm cottages, they want newer houses in urban areas with easy access to schools and shops.

There may be cases of inflated house prices in the seaside holiday resorts of Abersoch and Aberdyfi, but not in the rural areas of the county.

Before pointing the finger at second-home owners, many local businesses rely on the trade generated by these upmarket holiday resorts and any mass exodus of investors will impact negatively on jobs and result in even more young Welsh people emigrating to seek employment elsewhere.

I would also question the assumption that all second-home owners live outside Wales, as I suspect many of these properties are owned by Gwynedd residents who rent them out as a business.

This tax on holiday-home ownership is in reality a cynical attempt to make up Gwynedd Council’s budget shortfall by targeting those people who can’t vote in local elections and therefore have no voice.

However, we do have choice - we can rent out our properties as a business, pay no council tax and also be exempt from paying business rates; or we can sell up and spend our money elsewhere. The losers will be the young Welsh people Mrs Saville Roberts purports to support.

I have read numerous reports by Welsh MPs, AMs and MEPs trying to encourage inward investment into Wales, particularly by returning Welsh “expatriates”. Punishing second-home owners who are also Welsh expatriates will not help in this project.

Croeso i Cymru - I think not!

Yours etc,

John Roberts, Bala and Farnham.

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