Welsh villagers are talking about torching holiday lets, a councillor has claimed, as tensions with second home owners boil over.

       Cllr Craig ab Iago, a Plaid Cymru member of Gwynedd Council, in north Wales, claimed "solidly middle class people" are among those resorting to radical thoughts, amid fury at being priced out of their own communities.

       The claim has sparked fears of a return to the series of firebombing attacks in the 1970s and 1980s by Welsh nationalist extremists hoping to force out English owners.

       The area, home to the Snowdonia national park, has found itself at the centre of the affordable housing shortages blighting Welsh resorts.

       It is using the maximum 100 per cent tax premium for second homes and has come under fire for not building enough properties.

       'Torching houses is not the answer'

       Mr ab Iago, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said he had heard people discussing torching holiday homes to solve the crisis, as outsiders let properties on websites such as Airbnb.

       "We need homes, not our homes being burnt down and people ending up in jail,” he said. “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.

       "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."

       The Welsh Government had put forward measures such as charging 300 per cent council tax on second homes.

       Jim Jones, from North Wales Tourism, said: "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."

       Similar issues are being faced in England’s beauty spots such as Cornwall, where holiday home licences and a cap on the number of second homes could be introduced as it demands new powers from Westminster.

       A fresh crackdown on second homes was floated last month by Stuart Andrew, England’s housing minister.