7. 3. Statement: The Abolition of the Right to Buy and Associated Rights (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:06 pm on 14 March 2017.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 4:06, 14 March 2017

I’m sure that you will recall coming to Kidwelly and visiting the new houses being built at Morfa Maen in 2013 under the then Labour leadership of Carmarthenshire County Council—the first council to build council houses in Wales since the 1980s. We now have 11 home-owning Welsh authorities that have exited the housing revenue account subsidy, and that does mean that they now retain their rent revenues locally rather than sending them back to the Treasury, and can invest that money in local stock. So, my question to you, Cabinet Secretary, is whether you feel, as part of this Bill, that by ending the right to buy, it will add to the protection that councils will have, and actually embolden local authorities to resume their historic role as major house builders?