FOUR Cabinet members voted on a recommendation to apply no premium on long-term empty homes and a 50 per cent premium on second homes and holiday homes despite themselves or family members owning such homes.

Catherine Hughes, Rhodri Evans, Dafydd Edwards and Gareth Lloyd all made applications to the council’s ethics and standards committee to be able to speak and vote at a Cabinet meeting last Tuesday.

In documentation for the council, Cllr Hughes said her husband owns a property that’s empty and Cllr Edwards said his company owns a property that’s empty, but expects it to be rented by the time this premium thing would start.

Cllr Lloyd said he owns a second home. Any links Cllr Evans has to empty homes or second homes is not known.

Cllr Hag Harris did not make an application to the standards committee, but declared an interest and did not take part in the discussion.

The number of applications the ethics scrutiny committee needed to deal with around the issue led to a meeting before the Cabinet meeting over-running.

Aberystwyth councillor Ceredig Davies later called the situation “chaotic” and questioned how the final decision was made.

“When the matter of empty homes and holiday lets was presented before Cabinet it was stated that a decision had been taken not to levy additional rates on empty properties, whilst holiday lets would incur a 150 per cent levy, with both recommendations to be placed before scrutiny and council,” Cllr Davies said.

“As the recommendations were presented at Cabinet as a done deal with no discussion or alternatives considered, the recommendations must have been decided upon the previous day at a closed pre-Cabinet meeting.

“If this was the case, who actually took the decision?

“Was it the whole Cabinet, even with some waiting for their standards committee decision or were the decisions only taken by those Cabinet members that did not have an interest in the matter?

“Whichever of the two scenarios actually happened it reflects badly on this administration.”

The Cabinet recommendation will go before the full council on Thursday. The four Cabinet members will not be allowed to vote on Thursday.

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