Editor

I read in your Letters page (22 October) that Dr A J Fitzgerald, a resident of Swansea, would like to purchase a property in Machynlleth but believes that house prices in Mid Wales were far too high for locals to afford.

Dr Fitzgerald is no more local to Machynlleth than someone from Wolverhampton (they are both 89 miles away). Dr Fitzgerald also misses the point on why young locals in Mid Wales cannot afford houses. It is not house prices, which are amongst the lowest in the UK, it is the total lack of higher-paid employment opportunities in the area.

This results in local residents being unable to qualify for a mortgage, even on the cheapest of properties.

Dr Fitzgerald’s other observations also need to be challenged:

Jan Ingham’s point on using local builders is not “spurious”, as presumably she could have used a builder from neighbouring Conwy, or even Chester, rather than one from the locality of her property in Gwynedd.

The owners of self-catering properties in Gwynedd and Powys are mostly residents of Wales and are not the English invaders that Dr Fitzgerald would have us believe. And yes, they do provide jobs for locals.

Jan Ingham’s other point on returning a semi-derelict to a habitable state is also valid. There are numerous derelict properties in the rural areas of Gwynedd and Powys. The fact that they remain derelict is because most local people do not want to live miles from schooling, shops and entertainment. It is only second-home owners who would consider renovating them and this does bring tourist money and therefore jobs into the region.

My advice to Dr Fitzgerald is to move to England if you cannot find higher-paid employment in Swansea, save some money, and then return to Wales and purchase a derelict property where you can create your own home. That’s what I did. Although I always fancied a property in central London but couldn’t afford the £2 million price tag for a two bedroom flat!

John Rees Moss Bala

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