the average earnings income in Wales, and meant that many local people could not afford to purchase their first home or compete against commuter or second-home buyers. In 2001 nearly a third of all properties in Gwynedd were bought by buyers from out of the county, and with some communities reporting as many as a third of local homes used as holiday homes. Holiday home owners spend less than six months of the year in the local community. Additional concern was expressed by Cymuned, which included disillusioned Plaid Cymru members, when it was pointed out that real-estate in North Wales was specifically marketed to affluent buyers in England rather than marketed to locals. These growing dormitory towns along the North Wales Expressway serve more as commuter communities for Chester and other cross-border cities, effectively driving-out Welsh-speaking communities, activists pointed out. In housing markets where commuters are wealthier and small town housing markets weaker than city housing markets or suburbs, the development of a bedroom community may raise local housing prices and attract upscale service businesses in a process called gentrification. Long-time residents may be displaced by new commuter residents due to rising house prices. This can also be influenced by zoning restrictions in urbanised areas that prevent the construction of suitably cheap housing closer to places of employment. The issue of locals being priced out of the local housing market is common to many rural communities throughout Britain, but in Wales the added dimension of language further complicated the issue, as many new residents did not learn the Welsh language. Concern for the Welsh language under these pressures prompted Glyn to say "Once you have more than 50% of anybody living in a community that speaks a foreign language, then you lose your indigenous tongue almost immediately". Plaid Cymru had long advocated controls on second homes, and a 2001 taskforce headed by Dafydd Wigley recommended land should be allocated for affordable local housing, and called for grants for locals to buy houses, and recommended council tax on holiday homes should double, following similar measures in the Scottish Highlands. However the Welsh Labour-Liberal Democrat Assembly coalition rebuffed these proposals, with Assembly housing spokesman Peter Black stating that "we [can not] frame our planning laws around the Welsh language", adding "Nor can we take punitive measures against second home owners in the way that they propose as these will have an impact