Local Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire politician Samuel Kurtz MS has written to Love Island star Dr Alex George, following his controversial decision to buy up several local Pembrokeshire properties to convert into holiday homes.

The social media influencer and ex-ITV star has been criticised by locals for intending to turn local cottages into holiday homes.

Dr George, who hails from Carmarthenshire revealed on social media last weekend that he had bought four holiday cottages in the county, believed to be on the ‘outskirts of Tenby’ to renovate and lease out for holidaymakers, also deciding to give one away to a Ukrainian family.

The 31-year-old sharing a photo of himself standing at the front door of one of the properties he’d purchased, stating: "I’m so excited to announce that I’ve bought four holiday cottages in beautiful Pembrokeshire, in Wales.

“I initially bought these for my passion for property and renovation, as well as wanting to create relaxing spaces for families to holiday and enjoy the Welsh countryside in!

“With all of the current devastation in Ukraine, I have decided I would love one of the cottages to be home to a Ukrainian family for as long as they need. My plan is to start the renovations and get the properties into a good state to house a family as soon as possible."

Following the backlash, Dr George defended his move in a post on Instagram adding that he had been subjected to "threats of violence".

“For clarification because it seems to have caused quite a lot of confusion...these 'cottages' are a singular converted farm put-house. These are on the land/property of another residential house,” he stated.

“I am not going to disclose all the details of this because of the obvious (it's social media). There is good reason why we have opted for most to be for holiday stays and one of which can be for a refugee family and yes, afterwards a local if the family decide to leave.

“I appreciate those who have tried to respectfully share concerns about housing in the area. Sadly I have received a number of threats of violence which is never acceptable. Let alone abuse.

“You can take my word for it or not, these cottages would not be possible for residential purchase. If (I will not be pushing anyone out the door) and when the refugees wanted to leave. I will invite a local to rent the suitable flat.

“I would happily meet with local leaders to discuss housing in Pembrokeshire and see how I can support. I am an avid campaigner and activist myself but being respectful and reasonable should always be a baseline for discussion,” he added.

Speaking about the controversial situation, Pembrokeshire born politician Samuel Kurtz MS said: “The lack of affordable housing for local people is of huge concern, especially young people like myself. Everyone should have the opportunity to get on their local housing ladder, but to do that, we need more affordable homes.

“We can fix this issue, but we must all work together. That means striking the balance between expanding our local property ladder and supporting our valuable tourism industry.

“It’s a difficult solution to find, but it can be done – let’s use this situation to draw more attention to the need to increase affordable housing provision throughout rural Wales.”

Mr. Kurtz’ correspondence to Dr George reads as follows...

Dear Alex,

I have been interested to read about your holiday home purchase and renovation project and I am sorry to learn of some of the responses that you have received regarding your plans.

As you will undoubtedly be aware the issue of affordable housing in rural communities, such as the ones that I represent as the Member of the Senedd for Carmarthenshire West and South Pembrokeshire, has become very emotive over recent years.

According to the Zoopla website, the average property price in Pembrokeshire over the last 12 months is £228,000. This prices the vast majority of first-time buyers out of purchasing a home in their local community, especially with wages in rural west Wales being below the national average.

As a fellow west Walian, I know that you will appreciate the considerable value of our culture, language and heritage and the impact that the lack of suitable affordable housing has on enabling young people to purchase homes close to where they were born and brought up. I have many friends living locally, including myself, who are reliant on renting homes or remain living with their parents due to their inability to get onto the housing ladder.

While a strong economic benefit is seen for the area from tourism, it is unfortunate that second home purchases, or properties being used as self-catering holiday lets, only help to remove properties from the market.

The Senedd has recently enabled local authorities to levy higher council tax rates on second homes and holiday homes. However, more needs to be done by politicians such as myself and my colleagues at all levels of Government to help young people get on the property ladder. In short, we need to build more affordable and appropriate homes.

In your social media statement, you said that you would be open to meeting with local representatives to talk about the problems facing areas such as Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, and I would be keen to take you up on this offer.

I hope that we can meet to share some ideas about how we can draw more attention to the need to increase affordable housing provision in rural Wales.

Kind regards,

Samuel Kurtz MS