I welcome this debate and I welcome the new procedure of debating the petitions if they go above a certain number, and I think that’s a very welcome development.

Yesterday, I went along with my colleague Jenny Rathbone and the Cabinet Secretary, Lesley Griffiths, to visit Womanby Street and to meet three of the organisers behind the campaign. The street, of course, is in Jenny’s constituency, but I’d been contacted by many residents in Cardiff North, earlier in the year, who were very concerned at the prospect of the street’s live music being stifled by a potential hotel development. And after meeting those constituents and discussing it with Jenny, we did write to Lesley Griffiths, supporting the petitioners and seeking the change in the planning law—the agent of change—and also the designation of particular areas, cultural areas, in the LDP. And I’m very pleased that Lesley has responded to us so positively, and I think the campaigners who met us yesterday were very impressed with the quick response from the Welsh Government, because this change in the planning law should mean that any new residents can’t move to an area that already has a live music scene and complain about the noise to the extent that the venue gets shut down, and I think this has already happened previously in Cardiff, in particular with the closure of The Point in Cardiff Bay.

So, it was great, yesterday, to meet the campaigners, I felt, and to get a real feel for the passion they feel about live music on a day when, as has already been said, live music was really dominating the city as Coldplay were due to play the first of their two Cardiff dates in the Principality Stadium. The fact that there were 18-mile queues on the M4 with the amount of fans coming to see this band just shows how important live music is to the city’s economy and the tourist trade. I think the other point worth noting is that Coldplay first played in Cardiff as an up-and-coming band at Clwb Ifor Bach, just before they released their single ‘Yellow’ and really hit the big time. I think this is what the campaigners were telling us yesterday—that every up-and-coming band needs a small venue to start off in, and a small venue to play in. So, venues like Clwb Ifor and the Full Moon and the Moon Club, which are on this street, are the feeder venues for bands on their way up the music industry ladder, because, without them, you wouldn’t be able to have new talent coming into the industry and no place for these bands to showcase their talents.

So, I welcome the fact that the Welsh Government has acted swiftly here in Wales to change planning policy to protect live music in our cities—in areas that are part of the cultural fabric and richness of city life. I’m really pleased that the Cabinet Secretary has already confirmed—and I’m sure she will say more when she speaks later on—that ‘Planning Policy Wales’ will be updated to allow the designation of areas of cultural significance for music within local development plans all over Wales, not just in Cardiff, and I hope that there will be progress in the individual discussions that will be had with the individual local authorities. I’d also like to congratulate Jenny on the efforts she’s made on campaigning for Womanby Street, which, as I say, is in her constituency.