Sir,

I write about the forthcoming 50 per cent increase in Council Tax for ‘second homes’. I must thank our councillor Phil Baker for helping to prevent an increase to double the present level, but feel that there are points that still need to be made.

1. I am in the same position as many who will be hit by this tax in that my ‘second home’ could never really be a home. It is a purpose-built, one-bedroomed holiday flat on the back of Saundersfoot’s beach. It is no larger than a static caravan and could never be a home for a young family. Further, being on the beach, it could never be affordable for a young family. Much less money would buy a real family house a couple of miles from the sea and I don’t believe that a beach-side location is a vital factor in one’s first home. So, while I sympathise enormously with local youngsters in their search for a home, I and others like me are certainly not depriving them of one. We are being punished for a crime we have not committed.

2. One thing that will surely result from this tax is a drop in the numbers of holidaymakers coming to the area. Many holiday flats are let for part of the year and provide a very significant part of the area’s tourist accommodation. This tax will raise the cost of holidays, already expensive compared to overseas packages. The council should be encouraging tourists to come here. Cut the numbers of visitors and you will hit small businesses and employment. Do that and there will be less young people even thinking about staying here. This reduces the housing problem, of course, but hardly in the way intended.

3. If affordable housing is the objective, why has planning permission been given for development of luxury homes such as the one at the chapel on Saundersfoot’s High Street and the luxury flats in the old Cambrian Hotel? Why not affordable housing? If the anwer is that you can’t really have much affordable housing in the middle of a holiday village, then what is wrong with my flat?

My wife and I have been coming to Saundersfoot for over 60 years and still spend several weeks a year here. We have always loved the place and its people and we still do. This affair, however, has made us feel unwanted and that, I would suggest, is very sad.

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