North Wales MS and Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, Mark Isherwood, has today highlighted how Welsh Government housing policies relating to planning are a distraction from the actions needed to tackle the housing crisis in Wales.
Questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government and Planning in today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood quoted Lichfields Planning and Development Consultancy, who have questioned “the extent to which Article 4 Directions, such as the one proposed in Gwynedd, would be effective in improving affordability of housing for local people or retaining Welsh speakers”.
Having also raised concerns with the Cabinet Secretary that proposed rent control policies will potentially lead to reduced market supply, and that the Renting Homes Wales Act 2016 is forcing Landlords to sell and leave the sector, Mr Isherwood said:
“Another area where Welsh Government housing policies are expected to have a negative impact is their provision for local planning authorities to make local amendments to the planning system through an Article 4 Direction, allowing them to consider whether planning permission is required to change from one use class to another and to control the number of additional second homes and short-term lets in an area.
“What consideration have you therefore give to the assessment made by Lichfield’s Planning and Development Consultancy, referred to me by a permanent resident in Gwynedd, which stated that :
“Whilst we recognise the intentions behind the proposals, we question the extent to which Article 4 Directions, such as the one proposed in Gwynedd, would be effective in improving affordability of housing for local people or retaining Welsh speakers. Whilst there are localised pressures in some areas, a focus on tourists and second homes is somewhat a deflection of the wider need to deliver more housing, both market and affordable, across Wales. The planning system at a national and local level ought to be the catalyst for ensuring there is an adequate supply of homes”?
In her response, the Cabinet Secretary said they are not trying to “drive out everyone with a second home or who wants to come on holiday”, but added “those people want to come to sustainable communities where local people can live and work, and where the local shop and the local pub can stay vibrant because they don’t face long periods when nobody is there”.
