North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on the First Minister to reassure providers of self-catering accommodation in North Wales that their businesses will not be compromised by any future changes.

Mr Isherwood raised the matter in the Assembly Chamber yesterday during a question to the First Minister on Second Homes.

He said:   

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“You refer to the criteria that the Valuation Office Agency must adjudicate, where, in Wales, property is judged to be a business property and not liable for business rates if it's available for letting commercially as self-catering accommodation for 140 or more days in the following 12 months, has been in the previous 12 months, and has actually been commercially let for at least 70 days during that period.

“What assurance can you therefore provide the many providers, from Flintshire to Anglesey, who have contacted me, who run legitimate self-catering business, many of whom are farms that have diversified, that their genuine and legitimate businesses will not be compromised by any changes that might come?”

The First Minister told Mr Isherwood that “genuine businesses need not fear”.

He added: “What I can say is that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance is evaluating the impact of the introduction of council tax premiums. That does include a survey of Local Authorities, to assess how many properties have switched from council tax to non-domestic rates. Once that survey is complete, we can then see what the scale of the problem is, and whether there is a need to do more to ensure that people pay properly, according to the status of the property that they own.”