“Abersoch yesterday, Morfa Nefyn today” was the stark warning of one councillor as the Welsh Government was urged to intervene in Gwynedd’s second homes “crisis”.

Thursday saw the authority unanimously back Cllr Gruff Williams’ motion calling for stricter measures, including making it compulsory for planning permission to be in place before anyone can turn a house into a holiday home.

While such a move would require changes to the existing planning act, member after member raised concern over the impact on communities across the county, which was said to have worsened in the wake of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

The Welsh Government says it’s currently looking at the implications of more stringent rules when it comes to holiday homes, studying the results of such action on areas both in Europe and elsewhere in the British Isles where stricter guidelines are already in place.

But with members of Nefyn Town Council having recently marched 20 miles to Caernarfon to make their concerns known, their own research also shows 30 per cent of houses in Edern and 15 per cent in Morfa Nefyn are second homes, with claims that prices have shot “through the roof” since lockdown.

Speaking during Thursday’s virtual meeting, Morfa Nefyn councillor Gareth Tudor Morris Jones painted a bleak vision of the future, claiming many locals would be forced to become tourists in their own square mile unless action was taken.

“We’re told that the Welsh Government’s research will take time, but time is not on our side and the clock is ticking,” he said.

“Morfa Nefyn, Edern and Nefyn are changing, these villages are changing and turning into Abersoch.

“They are under siege from outside developers and people from Cheshire and Lancashire, they are snapping up every available house for big money and transforming them into second or even third homes.

“Tourism in Ll?n has reached saturation point, there are too many caravan sites and holiday homes, leading to much dissatisfaction locally.”

He added “no more second homes” stickers had started to appear, noting that a two-bedroom terrace house in Morfa Nefyn recently changed hands for almost £250,000.

“(I fear) we won’t have vibrant and cohesive communities where the Welsh language thrives.

“There are too many second homes, leading to the gentrification of entire communities and impacting future generations.

“What of Morfa Nefyn in 10 or 15 years? Young people who can’t afford to live there today will come back only as tourists, a nice place but no-one local will live there with 90 per cent or more of the houses being holiday homes.

“Abersoch yesterday, Morfa Nefyn, Edern and Nefyn today, and I urge you to listen to the pleas of these young people.”

Cllr Selwyn Griffiths added that the problem had intensified over recent months, claiming that homes in Morfa Bychan were being snapped up within as little as three days of going on sale, “and not to local people.”

But Cllr Aeron Jones said that the authority itself could do more to support locals via its own planning policies.

“If we can’t support our own people, what hope do we have of getting Cardiff to back us?” he said.

“There are areas we’ve already lost, we might as well be honest.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said that they recognised the challenges second homes present to the affordability and availability of housing in some communities in Wales, adding that the law makes a “clear distinction” between properties used as second homes and those used as self-catering accommodation.

While speaking in the Senedd last week, Welsh Language Minister Eluned Morgan conceded it was a “really complex issue” but that the Government was determined to make it possible for people who are brought up in an area to be able to stay there.

Noting that they were delivering on 20,000 new homes, she added that Wales was the only UK nation where local authorities can charge up to a 100 per cent premium on the standard rate of council tax on second homes.

“Dr Simon Brooks is currently undertaking a review of how other areas are dealing with second homes as a part of his work with the Hywel Teifi Academy, and I’m hoping that his study will help us to drive a way forward here.”