<p>The Rural Development Plan</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 12 July 2016.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 2:09, 12 July 2016

On the same theme as the last two questions, I note that, within my own constituency and the constituency of the First Minister, we’ve just had the announcement as part of rural development of grants of up to £100,000 for individual regeneration schemes. It often surprises people that in a constituency like mine in Ogmore, a former mining and heavy industry constituency, that all but two of the wards in my constituency are rural. We have 40 per cent of upland hill farming, so we have pillar 1 and pillar 2 funding as well. But that pillar 2 funding has been crucial for rural regeneration, controversial as it is—the allocations. So, could I ask him, in his discussions with the UK Government, is he stressing to them the importance of making good any shortfall in the immediacy of programmes that are already committed to, but also in the longer term? Because we need to make sure that we have that backfill shortfall filled by the UK Government in order that we can keep those schemes progressing for many years to come. It’s critical for the regeneration of my communities and his.