Julie James: Yes. I am very pleased that, last week, the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd announced £40 million for Self Build Wales. Developed in collaboration with partners across the sector, I am confident this innovative scheme, the first of its kind, will be a huge success when it launches properly later this year.
Julie James: The scheme is quite complex, and we are initially starting off on publicly owned land. So, there'll be a conversation to be had about the value of that land and how it's valued for the scheme. What we're doing is we're basically looking to smooth out the process for people who wouldn't have the resource to do that, so we're looking to have plots that are ready to build on so that they'd be...
Julie James: The Welsh Government has a strong track record in supporting small and medium-sized house building enterprises. We provide support directly and, where possible, provide advice to local authorities and other housing partners.
Julie James: Yes, I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be able to do that. I don't think we can do it at the moment, and, frankly, I haven't asked the question at that level of detail, but I will—I'm very happy to do so. But yes, we absolutely will have a record of where we've lent the money and on what sites, and clearly what we're looking to do here is two things simultaneously: we're looking to...
Julie James: Yes, I completely agree with that. There are a number of policy areas that we're hoping to pull together in a more effective way—so, the housing issues that you've already mentioned and that I've mentioned in the previous two answers. But, we've just done the review of 'Planning Policy Wales' in the middle of December, and that shifts to a more place-based approach, in general, to the...
Julie James: It's a very, very difficult thing, isn't it, to know exactly what to do when you encounter somebody who is street homeless, and I do understand entirely the impulse that people have to do something immediate for somebody in those circumstances. The difficulty is that we know that, once people have a tent of that sort, they actually access other support services less well, and in a strange...
Julie James: We are looking to review the whole concept of priority. We've got a review ongoing at the moment, which I inherited from my predecessor in post, Rebecca Evans. I share entirely the sentiments that the Member is expressing there in terms of homelessness. It's a really complex problem, as she knows. I know that she knows that. I completely agree with the statement about warehousing and so on....
Julie James: I wish that I could say just 'yes' to that—I am looking at it. I'm about to meet with Crisis to talk through where we are with that, and I've commissioned a brief for myself. Housing is a new area for me, and I've only been in post for however many weeks it is—six weeks or something. So, I've commissioned a brief for myself around that report to understand where we are at the moment, and...
Julie James: It's a very interesting report. As you know, I've only been in post six weeks, so I haven't had the time, in any way, to fully—. I've skim-read it—that's the best I could do in the time I had available. I do, however, plan to read it thoroughly and to take it into account. I have a number of views of my own around town and community councils, which I'm happy to share with the Member, and...
Julie James: Well, I certainly haven't reached that conclusion. As I said to you, I haven't fully considered the recent WAO report. I have had slightly more time to consider the findings of the review. I think it's a good basis on which to move forward, and it certainly will inform our policy approach moving forward. There are a number of issues with town and community councils—around size and capacity...
Julie James: I take the point the Member makes, but there are capacity issues there, and how you get that—
Julie James: I beg your pardon.
Julie James: I'm overcome by enthusiasm.
Julie James: I'm afraid I don't know the date on which they're planning to come down. If it's possible for me to meet them, I certainly will. However, I've just come from the finance sub-group of the partnership council for Wales this morning where the leader of Flintshire council was a participant. I think we had a very amicable and useful conversation there about the way that the formula works. I...
Julie James: So, the reason that we've combined planning into this portfolio is that we can bring together as many of the levers that we have here in the Welsh Government to solve some of the endemic problems that we have with, for example, building sufficient housing or some infrastructure issues. I'm looking forward to being able to use all of those levers together in the process. We did just reissue...
Julie James: So, the planning system is extremely complex, and the quasi-judicial nature of it makes it very difficult to comment on particular cases. The Member will be very well aware that at local authority level the local authority sets the local development plan, and they are enabled, through that plan, to take full account of the democratic wishes of the people they represent in setting out the...
Julie James: I think that the issue with the LDPs sometimes is the speed and the capacity with which local authorities are able to put them together. We have been working very closely with local authorities across Wales to ensure that they have the expertise to put the local development plans in place. It's something we are always keeping under review around the capacity to do that and the way that we...
Julie James: Yes. The First Minister has made it clear we will retain the 22 local authorities we have in Wales. Where voluntary merger proposals come forward, we will act to support them.
Julie James: Yes, I'm not in the habit of relying on alternative facts, so I can assure the Member that I won't be taking up the practice any time soon. I'm a long-term fan of local government. Members in the Chamber will know that I spent a very large part of my career in local government. I think they do a good job in constrained circumstances. They require help and assistance, and, sometimes, they...
Julie James: As I said, I've already had a very good meeting this morning with the finance sub-committee, talking about the funding formula. I'm meeting with the WLGA on Friday. We have a working group, which is being chaired by Derek Vaughan, looking at the way that we do regional working together, and I'm looking forward to having a good and productive relationship with local authorities across the piece.
