Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:17 pm on 5 October 2016.
Thank you very much, and thank you for a lively discussion this afternoon. The Conservatives have conveyed their support for the motion, but I won’t accept amendment 1 because it does broaden the area of work too broadly, and, unfortunately, the current Government loses focus too often, and I wouldn’t want them to do that on this issue.
You mentioned high-street pharmacies, and, yes, I agree that those are important, and it’s important to have other services on the high street along with shops. I recognise that our town centres are changing, of course, and we have to look all the time for new ways of helping and regenerating town centres. The solution is complex, therefore we are proposing quite a simple scheme of creating a fund—not with millions of pounds in it, but a small fund that would allow local councils to make applications for funding in order to experiment with this idea. Fine, if it doesn’t work after a few years, then we can get rid of the idea. This Government isn’t very good at getting rid of schemes that don’t work, but I would suggest that, in this case, we have to try, and if it doesn’t work, then, well, there we go—we’ve tried it.
As regards the point—[Interruption.] I don’t have much time. On the point about climate change and using cars, and encouraging car use, I do agree with you. I sympathise with that view, but in the area where I live, the car is a vital part of day-to-day life. You try to catch a public bus or go by bike from Deiniolen, Nebo or Nantlle down to the town centres—it’s nearly impossible. There is one bus a day, and have you seen the hills in my area? It’s fine for a fit person to ride a bike, but we are talking about many people who are not in that position. So, I do agree, but to be realistic, the car is part of our rural life, certainly.
I also agree about the need to pressure that supermarkets to contribute, perhaps, in terms of this problem. I would be very pleased if the Welsh Government were to put pressure on Tesco, Morrisons and these other big companies to look seriously at how they can help to enliven our town centres.
This is part of a package of measures—a small part of it. We need a lot of other things to happen as well. This would have a relatively small cost, as a pilot scheme, and if it doesn’t work, then we wouldn’t carry on with it. But what about trying it out? We need fresh ideas in this place, and this is one of them. So, let us try it, please.