Diolch, Llywydd, and I move the motion tabled in my name on behalf of the Welsh Conservatives. The point of today’s motion is to recognise the important role played by local authorities in delivering significant public services across Wales, and to explore ways in which local authorities can better support our local communities for the future. Now, we want to see strong and effective local government that will put power back into the hands of local people and their communities. We on this side of the Chamber are passionate about embracing localism to innovate and protect important public services, and there are a number of ways in which this can happen.

Of course, examples of innovation are evident across Wales, for example the Conservative-led authority of Monmouthshire introduced the Raglan project in 2015, which remodelled the way in which it delivers services to older people. This ensures that it can work with people who need help by delivering support primarily to people in their own homes wherever possible, promoting independence, and relieving burdens on the already overstretched Welsh NHS. The project supports people living with dementia and focuses on carers undertaking activities after daily discussions with the person and family, rather than working on fixed plans and set times. The project has developed connections with the community, and has supported people to re-engage with friends, family and the village as a whole. It’s exactly this kind of action that we need to promote and roll out across other parts of Wales: action that is innovative in its approach to delivering services, and action that actively engages and works with local communities.

Members will be aware that we, on this side of the Chamber, continue to advocate a community rights agenda that we believe would have a positive impact on communities and councils, and deliver significant improvements to better involve local communities in decision making. We believe that delivering these community powers is a cost-effective way of allowing community groups a voice for challenging and expressing an interest in carrying out a service or taking on a public amenity of local importance. Of course, a community rights agenda would include a community’s right to challenge council services, but also a right to bid for council assets, allowing local communities and groups to take over assets that are struggling or faced with the threat of closure. Neighbourhood planning, including a community right to build and neighbourhood development plans, should also be considered by the Welsh Government to allow communities to bring forward small-scale, community-led developments, such as shops, services or affordable housing.

Ultimately, we want to push more power and autonomy to our local communities and deliver real devolution that can make a difference to our local communities. Our communities must have the best possible opportunities to run their own services in their own areas. We must empower and encourage local authorities to engage more with local community groups and encourage greater collective responsibility within our communities.

Now, of course, one of the key challenges for local authorities in the future will be to protect or maintain services that impact upon the most vulnerable in our communities whilst also delivering efficiencies in their expenditure, and this is not always easy. This will be a particular challenge for rural local authorities like Pembrokeshire, in my own constituency, which will continue to struggle to provide its current level of services, partly because of its geography and because there are higher costs to delivering public services in rural areas. Delivering services such as social services for older people, for example, can be problematic over large geographic and sparse areas, as well as many other services, such as the provision of rural schools. Therefore, it’s crucial that the Welsh Government genuinely acknowledges some of the challenges that rural authorities face, and efforts must be made to relieve some of the disproportionate costs to delivering services to rural communities.

Indeed, it’s frustrating that councils across Wales have faced a 7 per cent decrease in their budget since 2013-14. Sadly, once again, rural councils have faced the biggest decreases, with Powys, Monmouthshire, and Ceredigion facing the largest overall falls in their funding at 11 per cent, 10 per cent, and 9.82 per cent respectively. Now I fully accept that difficult financial—