Airbnb is a threat to the economy of North Wales and needs to be banned, a leading county councillor has said

Plaid Cymru’s candidate for Aberconwy in next year’s election, Cllr Aaron Wynne, said the holiday rental business was stopping young people getting on the housing ladder and was also a threat to hotels and locally run letting businesses.

Homes for sale throughout Conwy are now regularly marketed by estate agents as being suitable to turn into Airbnb lets.

But Cllr Wynne has argued that these properties should be used as family homes as housing stock in the county continues to shrink.

Over a quarter of houses in Conwy are used as holiday homes, depriving people who want to live in the county of homes.

Cllr Wynne said: “Airbnb is a blight on our communities. And they are popping up all over Conwy, people have raised this issue with me numerous times and there is a very real concern about this latest trend in the holiday home market.

"It’s just not sustainable to have so much of our housing stock out of the reach of the people who want to and need to live here. The Welsh government needs to act and change the planning rules so homes can’t be turned over to be used for commercial interests that do not benefit our communities.”

Cllr Wynne was also concerned that holiday home owners were using Airbnbs as an extra source of income which was actually damaging the Conwy tourism industry.

He added: "I am also concerned that our tourism industry is being damaged by Airbnb. This has been a very difficult year for our hotels and guest houses so having holiday home owners making extra cash by turning their holiday home into an Airbnb is undercutting these businesses that are so important to the fabric of our communities.”