Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:07 pm on 14 March 2017.
Thank you for your question. I do remember vividly the visit to Kidwelly, back in 2013. From then I moved onto the environment division, and now I’m back, as they say in California. The issue in terms of the great scheme I saw in Kidwelly was something about local people investing in their communities and having the vision to do that. I congratulated the authority at that point in time.
Exiting the HRA: I claimed all credit for that, but actually, it was partly to do with Jocelyn Davies, who was the housing Minister previously, who instigated that programme. I just picked it up at the end, and I was fortunate enough to be the one who delivered it. But there was a lot of work that went into the background of that, making sure again that we were able to deliver longer term with an investment there.
I did miss one question that Angela Burns raised about whether I trust local authorities. I absolutely do trust local authorities to build more homes, but the problem is that the legislation doesn’t protect them in the long term. That’s why we are seeing progressive authorities, like Flintshire, like many others across—. Rhondda Cynon Taf is another local authority that’s doing some great investments. We have to give them the tools to be able to deliver as well, and that’s why this Bill will be not just a Bill to end the right to buy, but to make sure that our clever investment in building new homes and social housing stock is protected for our young people for the future.