Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 5 April 2017.
Diolch, Llywydd. Three and a half thousand people have now signed the petition to this Assembly calling for us to protect live music venues in Wales. That petition was started by the conductor and composer, Richard Vaughan. The problem is that there are two proposals to develop in Wales’s most famous live music street, Womanby Street, and the developments pose a threat to the music venues because of the weak planning laws we have in Wales. In England, there is the agent of change principle, which means that new developments need to accommodate existing live music venues and not the other way around. It’s time to think about what we can do, and people from all political parties need to stand up and protect the live music venues in Wales. The proposals for Womanby Street should be rejected unless there are cast-iron guarantees that the existing live music premises will not be affected. Our Senedd needs to listen to the thousands of people who have taken the time to sign the petition, because we need a change in planning law, and I call upon everybody present to ensure that we change the law here in Wales and protect our live music venues. Diolch.