People are talking openly about a return to the firebombing campaigns of the 1970s and 80s as the debate around second homes threatens to escalate, a housing chief fears. The spiralling cost of buying a property is pricing many people out of the housing market right across Wales and the UK - and in popular rural and coastal areas this is compounded by demand for holiday homes.

This has seen action taken to stem that demand after growing pressure from communities. Welsh Government has put forward additional measures - including the power for local authorities to hike council tax premiums to 300% - in a bid to mitigate that demand, as well as increasing the minimum time a property is let before it can qualify for business rates rather than pay council tax.

But tourism chiefs and opposition politicians say the solution lies in building more affordable homes in these areas and criticised the Welsh Government and some councils for failing to provide these properties, which has exacerbated the situation. They say targeting the tourism sector that brings thousands of jobs and millions of pounds of investment to these communities risks causing serious economic damage.

READ MORE: Wave of second home owners selling up in Abersoch as council tax soars

Gwynedd Council has been on the frontline on this issue - both in terms of the massive demand for holiday homes in the county and the response, with the authority using the 100% tax premium for second homes, the current maximum level. It has also been under-fire for not building enough properties.

Cllr Craig ab Iago, as housing portfolio holder, has been at the centre of the response and says while he believes the council is now leading the way on this in Wales he admits it is still not enough - or moving at sufficient speed.

He is clear that the categorisation of second home owners by some as "monsters" is both wrong and unhelpful - pointing out that many are local people topping up incomes to help their family remain in the area and others have long-standing links and genuine affection for the area.

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But while he says second homes and self catering businesses do support the economy the key had to be controlling the percentage of properties being taken out of local stock for this. He believes a local approach is the key and wants more powers devolved from Welsh and UK governments to the communities affected.

The risk of failing to act to stem the anger is dangerous he believes, with concern of a return to the Meibion Glyndwr campaigns in the 70s and 80s, when holiday homes were burnt down. He said: "I have heard people, even solidly middle class and comfortably off people, talking about this being an answer. This is not the answer, we need homes, not our homes being burnt down and people ending up in jail. That is where we are at now but torching houses is not the answer. We can bring hope back rather than people getting angry. We can't give up or turn violent and racist, we need to avoid that.

Councillor Craig ab Iago

Councillor Craig ab Iago

"The real issue across all areas is a lack of affordability in the market - every area in the UK is affected in different ways so more powers should be devolved so each area can deal with this in a way that suits that community."

Jim Jones, from North Wales Tourism, said building more homes for local people was at the heart of helping solve the issue. He said: "The creation of affordable local housing in Gwynedd is long overdue, this should be a priority and of course the plan for more social housing is most welcomed. However the targeting of proper tourism businesses which are the backbone within the communities in Gwynedd, to justify the lack of homes and slow progress in building social housing is completely unfair."

Conservative MS Janet Finch-Saunders agreed that not enough homes were being built and has also proposed planning changes to help farmers and other rural families build homes on their land to keep children living in their communities. She added: "The housing crisis is a direct result of years of successive Labour-led governments failing to provide opportunities and build enough houses with housebuilding falling below levels before devolution.

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"What we see is a Labour Government desperately trying to act long after the horse has bolted. This Labour Government is failing to tackle the root issues of the housing crisis failing to address the fact that, until recently there have been more empty homes in Wales than there are second homes."

Gwynedd Council has unveiled a five year £77m Housing Action Plan to help address some of these issues. It says that it is using around £14m raised from the second homes premium towards this. It includes the council building affordable homes themselves after years where this was left to housing associations thanks to policy changes at a UK and Welsh level. Since the plan launched last April they said 89 social houses have been built, 41 empty properties have been brought back into use, and 38 units for the homeless have been built or were in the process of being built.

There are a raft of future measures - they include:

■ The council themselves building 100 houses with another 100 bought that will be made available to let to local residents. The first development is planned at the site of Ysgol Babanod Coed Mawr, Bangor.

■ The authority has land in Llanystumdwy, Llanberis and Rhoshirwaun that they are looking to develop, and officers are currently discussing the purchase of land in the Pen Llŷn area and in south Meirionnydd.

■ Letters have been sent to approximately 300 empty property owners across the County to discuss the potential of selling to the council. But only seven positive responses were received, and only one property was suitable to buy. Officers are looking to buy another 10 properties, arranging viewings, researching into costs and gathering information at the moment.

Craig ab Iago added: "I believe we are leading in Wales on this but even then it is still a sticking plaster on a gaping wound - because we are losing 40% of our market, people are being kicked out of their homes and I understand it from the owners' point of view because it makes sense as a business model. This is a nuanced situation - it is certainly not the case that second homes owners are all 'monsters' - many are local people generating a second income to keep themselves and their family in the local area, many others have had a second home here for generations and have genuine affection for the area and are an important part of the economy.

"But, particularly with the growth of Airbnb, there are people buying from afar purely as an investment to earn money. You can't blame individuals but I do blame policymakers in London and Cardiff who do not understand the issues and the areas. That is why we need planning and housing devolved. Cardiff have at least admitted the problem exists which is a start - now we need to sort it out. There is no one tool to deal with this and the premium is just one tool and a blunt tool at that.

"We are certainly not there yet in dealing with this and it is not enough and we are not going as quickly as I want to be. We need more rules on the percentage of homes that can be used for second homes and the percentage for local people, we need more powers to regulate rather than this free for all. We need powers so that local people can help shape their communities.

"There is anger out there - you can get angry or give up, what we hope to do is give people hope too. Every penny from the premium will go into local housing. We have to do what we can do and we are doing everything I think we can do, and the premium is a massive help. Building homes is a challenge, we've had Covid and everything is now more expensive, the homes, the land, the cost of building. It is not simple and it takes time so I understand the frustration from some people paying the premium who think this money is going off to be spent on something else by people in 'ivory towers'.

"I want to use this money to turn it into something positive, not negative, not 'anti-English. If we can show people how this money is being spent on the ground then that can be positive for the people paying and local communities."

First Minister Mark Drakeford has said there are "too many second homes" in some parts of Wales that are affecting communities and causing housing prices to rise sharply. Mr Drakeford said: "What we are in the business of doing is trying to make sure that local people and young people in particular have a fair chance to go on living, growing up, and contributing in the communities into which they were born."