I am quoting from official statistics. Although, perhaps, there are periods of time in Abergavenny—at the time of the food festival it does appear to be very busy there, but, when you take the whole year into account, facts and statistics demonstrate a different picture, unfortunately. I’m sorry to be negative, but that is the situation, but our motion offers a way of improving that.

Evidence shows that destinations outwith towns that offer free car parking gain at the expense of town centres and a number of councils throughout Wales do offer free parking—for periods over Christmas, for example—in an effort to attract people to spend in our town centres. But we know about the financial pressures on councils at the moment, and so what our motion calls for is the establishment of a new fund to enable local authorities and community groups to offer free car parking in towns throughout Wales. Such a fund would enable local authorities to bid for a grant to compensate them, in a way, for any lost parking fees, and to offer free car parking for a few hours in order to support towns that are truly in need of that. We would need specific criteria for this fund in order to ensure that the towns needing that assistance actually receive it. Of course, this would be part of a broader strategy.

The free parking offered has to be part of a strategy offering things such as business rates, which are a vital part of any regeneration scheme. Considering the business rates, I was extremely disappointed to see the Government stepping back from the pledge to improve the rating system for small businesses in Wales. Extending the current system doesn’t equate to a further discount in those business rates. Our policy is to increase rate relief so that over 7,000 small and medium-sized businesses would be released from paying any rates at all, and 20,000 other businesses would also receive some relief.

Also, as part of a regeneration strategy, business improvement areas can be very successful—business improvement areas being led by the local business community and then they invest in turn in developments and plans based on local priorities. The Bangor BID and Hwb Caernarfon, for example, are business improvement areas and they’ve seen businesses paying a levy of 1.5 per cent of the rateable value, and that funding then has been used to invest in and improve the area.