{"id":422359,"date":"2025-09-14T00:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T00:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422359\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T00:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T00:10:13","slug":"comment-that-house-prices-are-expensive-in-north-wales-county-challenged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422359\/","title":{"rendered":"Comment that \u2018house prices are expensive\u2019 in north Wales county challenged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Blaenau Ffestiniog. Photo: Medwyn Roberts<\/p>\n

Dale Spridgeon<\/strong> Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n

A comment in a council document which stated that housing in a north Wales county was \u201cexpensive\u201d was challenged as a \u201cpolitical statement\u201d by a committee member.<\/p>\n

Dr Peter Barnes, a new lay member of Cyngor Gwynedd\u2019s Governance and Audit Committee made the comment during a meeting on Thursday, September 11.<\/p>\n

Dr Barnes, who lives in Dolgellau, and runs a business in the town following a long academic career, had felt the description was \u201cinaccurate\u201d.<\/p>\n

A section of a report, which detailed a previous discussion about council tax, had stated the council previously \u201cwelcomed the fact that the budget was balanced but the situation needed to be monitored considering that house prices in Gwynedd were high\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Barnes, one of three lay members appointed to the committee in July, said: \u201cI accept that some house prices in Gwynedd are high, but overall this is a very low cost area for house prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the national statement, houses prices in Gwynedd are typically of the lowest prices in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy worry is that that is a political a statement, that house prices in Gwynedd are high.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA different thing\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leading the meeting Carys Edwards brought in head of finance officer Dewi Morgan, saying: \u201cPerhaps Dewi, you can explain that the house prices are high for local people here in Gwynedd?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, but that is a different thing,\u201d Mr Barnes replied.<\/p>\n

Mr Morgan explained it had referred to minuted details from a former discussion and had referenced a comment made by a member.<\/p>\n

But Mr Barnes said he \u201cdid not like the idea that there was an inaccurate statement\u201d on the minutes.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI could be persuaded but it doesn\u2019t sit comfortably with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carys Edwards explained: \u201cI think it came in the context of our discussion about Gwynedd, and maybe it is something else Peter, but at the end of the day, you can correct me Dewi, if I am wrong, but it was just in the context of the availability of the people of Gwynedd?\u201d Mr Morgan agreed.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIncorrect\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cllr Edgar Wyn Owen added: \u201cYou also have to look at the lists of where Gwynedd is in terms of its employment and what are the average salaries compared to where someone else might think prices are low.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Barnes replied: \u201cI just see, so often, comments that say I have moved to Manchester because I can\u2019t afford to live in Gwynedd.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not because the house prices are high, it is because the salaries in Manchester are higher than they are in Gwynedd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to get dragged into an argument, but to say house prices are high in Gwynedd \u2013 full stop \u2013 is an incorrect statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cllr Owen added: \u201cWe\u2019re talking about people who want to buy houses and live where they were born, very important for the people of Gwynedd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carys Edwards said she did not want it to be misleading in any way and asked if the content was appropriate or needed amending.<\/p>\n

Mr Morgan said it described words said at a meeting, \u201cit didn\u2019t add anything\u201d either way, and was fine to be removed if the committee felt that was necessary.<\/p>\n

Carys Edwards reiterated it was not a statement just a description of a discussion, but it was felt \u201cit could invite some confusion\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\n the people of Wales.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blaenau Ffestiniog. Photo: Medwyn Roberts Dale Spridgeon Local Democracy Reporter A comment in a council document which stated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-422359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115199752704945752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}