Council votes to close school in Abersoch -dubbed ‘Cheshire-by-the-Sea’ due to second home sales

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Residents in a Welsh village, dubbed ‘Cheshire-by-the-Sea’ because of the number of holiday homes snapped up by wealthy owners, have lost a last-ditch battle to save their local school. 

Villagers in Abersoch have been petitioning council bosses to keep their primary open, despite pupil numbers dwindling from 32 to just seven.

Residents say families in the village, which has a population of around 700, say families have been priced out by people snapping up coastal properties for second homes.

Council chiefs put forward plans to shut Ysgol Abersoch primary school earlier this year – sparking petitions from angry villagers.

But, despite calls from residents to keep the school open, councillors have voted to close it. 

Locals fear the ‘heart will be ripped out of the village’ by the school closure.

One woman said: ‘Without the school Abersoch has no focal point, the very heart and soul will have disappeared.’

Another said: ‘Leaving Abersoch without a primary school would result in it becoming a holiday place for tourists for a few months a year and a ghost town for the remainder.’

The battle to save the school began when three pupils left before the start of term – leaving just six full-time students and one nursery school pupil.

The primary school has a capacity of 32. But locals say the village is now a ‘ghost town’ for large parts of the year because of an influx of holiday home owners.

Residents say locals have been priced out by outsiders buying second homes in the village.

The community has now earned the nickname Cheshire-on-Sea, a reference to affluent Cheshire villages such as Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Prestbury – home to wealthy executives and football stars.

Because of the drop in pupil numbers, Gwynedd Council said it was costing £17,404 per head to keep the school running.

This is more than four times the county average of £4,198. The school was therefore marked for closure earlier this year.

Two petitions were set up to oppose the closure and attracted up to 3,000 signatures. 

It comes after protests took place in the 700-population village against holiday homes taking over the area.

Protestors staged a last-minute plea to save the school by arguing the information about pupil numbers was wrong.

But their pleas were rejected by council chiefs who backed the closure – and say it will have its last classes before shutting at Christmas.

It comes as earlier this year a broke out in Cornwall after grants worth £100million to help businesses weather the Covid crisis went to second home-owners living outside the county.

The shock figure has ignited tensions between ‘priced out’ locals and wealthy second home proprietors.  

At a meeting of Cornwall Council in September, it was revealed that almost 62% of a total £170million business support claimed by second home-owners during the pandemic went to landlords living outside the county, The Times reports. 

Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew George demanded the sums should be paid back by those using their Cornish homes as an ‘investment or leisure toy’.

Councillor George said: ‘It is time the government sought to recover these monies and ensured they are deployed to address the shocking circumstances of local families suffering the housing emergency.’

His calls were backed by Malcolm Bell, chief executive of Visit Cornwall, who added: ‘A minority did return their money but it’s such a minority it’s not worth commenting about.’

Deputy leader of the council, David Harris, agreed – calling the benefit ‘just wrong and unfair’.

He said he had already complained to the government that the grant should not be dished out automatically to holiday let owners.   

Second home owners who rent out their properties as registered holiday lets can also apply for small business rates relief. 

As a result, they are free from paying business rates or council tax – with estimates that the local authority loses out on a potential £10million a year. 

The meeting heard that 13,255 second homes were recorded on Cornwall Council’s council tax database with 11,081 holiday lets registered for business rates and 8,953 getting business rates relief.   

Statistics reveal that although Cornwall has just one percent of England’s population, it has 17 per cent of the country’s second homes.

Locals have asked questions about affordability in recent years. House prices in Cornwall are some of the highest in the country, which has angered locals who say they cannot afford homes there. The resort of Megavissey boasts typical property prices of £300,000 – 20 times the average local salary.

A host of famous faces are also homeowners in the county – although they are not believed to rent their properties out: Dame Judi Dench owns a house near St Ives, while celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay owns three properties – including a £6million mansion in the fishing village of Rock.

TV hosts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan have owned Steward House at Talland Bay, near Polperro, since 1998.   

Rebecca Hemingway, from Fowey Folk Museum, said: ‘There’s nobody with a view of the sea that’s local — maybe one.

‘It’s too late to do anything about the second homes situation now — it would be nice for the community if there were more affordable homes.

‘There’s a handful at the top, but not enough.’