Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank the Conservatives for tabling this debate today and welcome David Melding’s introductory contribution, along with his acceptance of the Government’s amendment.

I’m just going to quickly pick up on his final point, because I think that’s particularly important, and that concerns citizen involvement, which was raised by a number of Members around the Chamber, of course. Citizen involvement is of immense importance to people because it conveys a sense of control over their lives, over their environment, over the place that they value, their town, their city, and it relates to, of course, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where control is a fundamental need of every person if they are to live in a way that eases despair and anxiety and that embeds a sense of well-being in their existence. Of course, it’s reflected as well in the well-being of future generations Act the ways of working in which consultation with the public is provided as an essential component of all the decisions that public sector bodies should be making.

I think that a number of important issues have been raised today by Members, and I’d like to address each one. The first is the very important question, I think, and that is: what role do our cities and also our other major urban areas play in supporting economic growth? Well, we’ve long recognised that cities are fundamental in driving a nation’s prosperity, given the abundant evidence. It demonstrates how larger urban areas generate economic growth faster than rural areas. We first recognised the potential for city regions back in 2011 when we commissioned a report and established an advisory group to consider the evidence for city regions, and this led us, of course, to setting up the Cardiff capital region board and the Swansea bay city region board undertaking the foundation work that has led to the city deals being developed.

Of course, deals offer Wales and our regions an important opportunity to unlock additional Treasury funding to support interventions that can deliver economic growth, but deals should not be seen simply as project delivery and funding vehicles. They offer an opportunity for citizen engagement and they are critical tools in providing a framework that allows regions to drive a new way of collaborative working, setting priorities as a single voice that supports local economic ambitions and objectives and, of course, delivers key functions at a strategic level. They are critical to realising the vision of genuinely sustainable, clean, well planned cities and wider regions that the motion points to.

Genuine collaboration amongst stakeholders and local authorities in particular as a consequence of the deals should not be underestimated if we are to achieve the vision of lovable, prosperous cities—cities that we’d wish to see defined not just by how wealthy they are, but also by the quality of place that they command, by how urban environments can enhance rather than inhibit well-being and happiness levels. I think each of the points within the motion are proven to contribute to this.

Many examples of cities around the globe have been quoted today. We could actually celebrate close to home, right here, the fact that Cardiff is known as one of the best places for young people to grow up in. We have just next door the Wales Millennium Centre, which has received an award for being the friendliest theatre in Britain. I think it’s fair to say that we would wish to see our cities and towns known as the friendliest places that people can visit, because that’s what’s going to draw people here from places like the south-east, that David Melding pointed to, which will grow and expand to a point where many younger people will seek out other cities and other towns to establish families and seek work in. So, we need to make sure that our cities and towns are amongst the most attractive places in which to work and live.