Madam,

Nearly 20 years ago I came to Wales as the first Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales. My wife and I kept our small flat in London, but we bought an old coach house about eight miles from Lampeter. It was all very new and exciting and we resolved to become part of the local community. Avidly we attended Welsh classes. I struggled for three years, but my wife actually succeeded in learning the language. Some time after we arrived, she appeared on S4C being interviewed in Welsh about our house.

For nearly two decades we contributed financially to a wide range of local institutions. My wife joined the WI and Merched y Wawr. For the local show both of us regularly put in entries. One year I won first prize for my macaroons! As incomers we have enthusiastically participated in all aspects of Welsh life. It is for this reason we are saddened by the recent decision of the Welsh government to allow local councils to increase the council tax up to 100 per cent and thereby penalise anyone, like us, for owning a second home. This plan has received widespread support. Of over 500 respondents to a survey carried out to assess local opinion, 73 per cent endorsed such a policy. Anglesey has decided to increase the tax for second homes by 25 per cent: Pembrokeshire by 50 per cent; and Ceredigion will discuss the issue on 24 March.The official justification for the change is that second home owners artificially raise house prices and dilute the Welsh language and civilisation. Yet there is no mention of the fact that the Welsh countryside is already littered with empty houses. Punishing second home owners may well continue this depopulation, and it is surely better to have houses inhabited some of the time rather than none of it. Of course not all second home owners are non-Welsh. But many, if not most, are. We incomers are fair game when it comes to providing extra income for cash-strapped local authorities. It is a tragedy that we are regarded by some (though hopefully a very small number) as foreigners, and now are subjected to a special tax. There is no doubt some of these second home owners will leave, believing that Welsh neighbours would prefer us to go back across the Severn and thereby make local homes more affordable. Indeed, several of our second-home-owning friends have already decided that they are leaving. We love Wales and intend to pay the extra tax. But, it is a pity that Wales will lose some of us who would otherwise enrich Welsh society and make a valuable contribution to community life.

Yours etc

Rabbi Professor Emeritus Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Bwlchllan.