Our communities are being destroyed

Rural areas throughout Western Europe have seen house price rises of 100% in the last three years ALONE.

Average house prices in the poorest parts of the country are already over £213,350...

You would need a salary of £60,000 to be able to afford a mortgage on a house that expensive.

How many people do you know who earn over £60,000?

Come to that, how many people do you know who earn over £20,000?

Who can afford these new houses?

Our teachers can't.

Our nurses can't.

Our fireman can't.

Even our policemen can't.

ORDINARY rural people cannot afford these prices.

That is why more and more people from wealthier areas are moving into our communities, and treating them like playgrounds - staying for a few weeks, refusing to become part of the community, refusing to show respect.

That's why our young people are being forced to leave in order to hunt for work, and the chance to buy a home, in the big cities.

Fewer young people means fewer young families means fewer small local schools, fewer local activities and less of a local community.

That's how you kill off a community.

That's how you kill off a culture.

That's how you kill off HOPE.

This MUST be stopped

Cymuned is a housing and communities pressure group which also supports the Welsh language.

We are calling on your Council to increase council tax on holiday homes to 200%. The extra money generated by this should be put into local projects for affordable housing for local need. If someone can afford to buy a holiday home and inflict the damage that causes on our communities, they can afford to contribute more to projects that help make up for that damage.

It's time to ditch the idea that homes are just one more way to try and squeeze profit out of the system.

It's time to call a halt to putting the pleasure of wealthy people ahead of the needs of local people.

It's time to stop the countryside from becoming nothing more than a playground for the rich.