Agenda item

The Presiding Member invited the Leader to present the next report which dealt with long-term empty and second homes in the city and the possibility of introducing Council Tax premiums for these properties. Increasing demand for housing and the shortage of housing in the city have ‘financial’ costs to the Council and ‘societal’ costs in terms of the impact of this on individuals and families.

In addition to a general lack of available housing, Newport has a large number of unoccupied properties that remained persistently high: Council Tax premiums, if introduced, would encourage owners to take steps to bring their properties back into use.

At its January meeting and following a public consultation exercise, Cabinet decided to recommend that Council should adopt the proposal to introduce council tax premiums for both long-term empty properties and second homes in the city. The report set out the proposal.

Council tax premiums, if introduced would see owners of second homes and those that left properties empty for more than a year charged additional council tax.

The objective was to encourage owners to take steps to bring properties back into use.

Whilst second homes are fewer in number, a consistent approach should be taken for these underused properties.

The report summarised the support from the public for both of these changes to go ahead as noted in the 470 responses gathered during the public consultation.

The report therefore included recommendations to adopt council tax premiums in Newport, for both second homes and long-term empty properties.

The legislation provided some exceptions that prevented a premium being charged in some circumstances. Following feedback from the consultation and to address stakeholders’ concerns, some additional limited ‘local’ exceptions were also recommended.

Comments of Councillors:

§  Councillor Evans had mixed views on the report and referred to figures in the corporate plan as inadequate.  Whilst he recognised that radical action was needed, empty properties are a complex issue which may not be addressed under this approach. Whilst there were statutory exemptions to the payment of premiums, a more pragmatic approach should be taken.  There are only 15 second homes in Newport and Councillor Evans did not believe that their council tax should double and may not be worth collecting or chasing. Councillor Evans was not against taking reasonable actions against the backlog of empty properties blighting the city but could not support the changes regarding second homes and would therefore abstain from supporting the report.

§  Councillor Davies referred to empty homes abandoned in Newport and commented that one house that was in a state of disrepair and seen as a blight by neighbours could be utilised for one of over 9,000 registered people in Newport needing affordable homes additionally these homes being used could also prevent anti-social behaviour.  There were 2,565 empty properties.

§  Councillor Clarke mentioned that the position in Newport was similar throughout UK.  Newport wanted to work with property owners and by working together, produce positive outcomes.  We also had to listen to residents of Newport and in the consultation, it showed this was what they wanted.

§  Councillor M Howells declared an interest at this stage and referred to 3.1 in the report on Registered Social Landlords (RSL) and strategic empty properties ear marked for large scale development. Cllr Howells queried whether the council would develop a policy to balance the needs of homes and future developments. Scrutiny colleagues would be aware of this as social landlord properties remaining empty had been raised at Performance Scrutiny Committee - Place and Corporate that. This was also something that residents complained about to ward members in Lliswerry. The report mentioned that Policy would be developed to deal with this.  Councillor M Howells wanted clarification on whether this would go to full Council for ratification or would it be dealt with at Performance Scrutiny Committee - Place and Corporate. Additionally, in relation to this, Councillor M Howells would like to see council take this further as it was a problem in Newport and would like to see reports that looked at ear marked properties for redevelopment, and if they could be used for temporary accommodation.  Finally, Cllr M Howells queried whether business properties could also be utilised or repurposed for those seeking homes.

Councillor Drewett, Councillor Adan, Councillor Corten and Councillor Harvey spoke to support the motion.

§  Councillor Evans asked for a point of clarification regarding second homes consultation, as the figures were different to that in relation to the consultation regarding empty homes.

§  The Leader thanked colleagues for engaging actively in the debate and listened carefully to the comments made.  As a Council regulatory and statutory powers could be put in place such to bring about change. As a listening council this is the change that residents have asked for.  The toolkit has been in place for some time and an action plan is now needed to provide incentive and guidance for people to strengthen this.  This was about working together, and the Leader thanked the Revenue and Benefits Manager for working hard on the report. The next steps with RSL partners was to further develop and seek their views to create a policy, which would come back to Performance Scrutiny Committee – Place and Corporate in due course.

Resolved:

Council considered Cabinet’s recommendation to introduce council tax premiums for long term empty properties.  Council therefore moved a recommendation to introduce Council Tax premiums in line with paragraph 3.1 outlined in the report, from 1 April 2024 for long-term empty homes and 1 April 2025 for second homes at a rate of 100%.