Second homes: Rising price fears amid holiday home plan

Developers say the plans will help to boost the local economy by bringing more visitors to the area

Proposals to turn a former school into holiday lets have raised fears about rising house prices and the Welsh language dying out due to an oversaturation of second homes.

About 2.9% of all homes in Conwy county were classed as holiday lets or second homes in 2020.

Some people living in the village of Rowen said plans could lead to locals being priced out by holidaymakers.

Developers said they would "respect the views of the community".

Work is under way to turn the 140-year-old Rowen School, into luxury self-catering flats costing about £1,000 a week.

The building closed as a school in 2011, with just 10 pupils on the register, and has been empty for six years, according to a report submitted to planners by developers.

Landowners, the Baron Hill Estate in Beaumaris, hope to spend about £180,000 on the building.

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However, the application has been met with opposition from some living in the village, who fear the area is already oversaturated with holiday lets.

According to official statistics, 1,181 properties in the county are classed as second homes, with Conwy county making up 5% of all second homes eligible for council tax in Wales.

Caerhun Community Council, which has formally objected to the application, said there were not enough affordable homes for those who had grown up in the area to buy.

Caerhun Community Council chairman, Jimmy Logan says the building should be turned into permanent housing

Chairman Jimmy Logan said the community needed more houses for families and affordable rental properties, not more holiday lets.

"There are plenty of holiday homes in Rowen - too many - so that's what we're trying to stop," he said.

He said that a lack of affordable housing meant young people who grew up in the village were having to move away.

"We want Welsh people to keep Welsh [language] going. There are so many English people in Rowen now, Welsh is dying," he said.

The developers say they will be generating income for the local community

Elin Hywel, chairwoman of the Welsh Language Society's sustainable communities committee, said making the site into permanent homes would help to boost the local economy.

"Residents in permanent homes would be more likely to spend locally all year," she said.

However, in a report to the council, developers say the three-bedroom holiday let would help generate more income to the area than permanent homes, with construction companies from the area used for the conversion, and local cleaners and handymen would be employed once up and running.

On behalf of the owners, agents Owen Devenport said they "respect the strong views and feelings of the local community", but an application to develop housing on the site would be "refused" under the local development plan.

They said that plan required empty building in the countryside to be considered for business use first.

"The owner's priority is to maintain and manage an attractive building of historic interest. We are working with the county council to find a suitable use for it."