A new report has shown that poorly paid locals in Snowdonia are being frozen out of the housing market due to the lack of affordable housing. This is now the number one concern for all communities in the national park of North Wales.
The park authority chairman claims the serious problem is made worse by second-home ownership which is pushing up the prices. At a Snowdonia National Park Authority meeting held earlier this week committee members were presented with research which showed low incomes and limited opportunities for higher paid work were forcing the majority of young locals into leaving the area. They are being replaced by older retirees. The population in the national park increases by about one-hundred each year as older people settling there outnumber those leaving.
There are 900 new homes planned for the park over the next eleven years and around half of these will be affordable homes targeted at locals to try and help people raised in the community to buy a new home and protect their belongings with household insurance. But other estimates feel this will not be enough to solve the long term problem. By 2023 it is thought that 30% of Snowdonia’s population will be 65 and over. Average property prices are at £142,000 and with average wages at around £18,000 a year, even a generous mortgage deal would leave local buyers well short.
Caerwyn Roberts, chairman of the park authority and Plaid Cymru councillor, said “The disparity between income levels and property prices means the young people who leave have little hope of returning. The problem is exacerbated by second-home ownership driving up prices; many properties in Harlech for example lie empty because their owners spend only a few weeks of the year in them. It’s a contributing factor. We need to retain the area’s cultural heritage, but we also need to try to improve the economic viability of the area to get good, well-paid jobs.”