2. What discussions has the Minister had regarding accelerating housing plans in South Wales East to take account of the abolition of the Severn bridge tolls? OAQ51561

I thank you for the question. I welcome the ending of the tolls and the benefits that it will bring to Wales. I recognise that this could influence housing demand and prices in the region. I'll be meeting with both Newport and Monmouthshire local authorities to discuss this issue in more detail, and I have already had some early discussions with house builders. 

Minister, it could lead to higher house prices. We've already seen in the past year house prices go up by more than 9 per cent in Monmouthshire, and more than 6 per cent in Newport. I just wonder if there's a need for a greater urgency about this. I'm delighted to hear about the meeting she's having, but where there is demand and the opportunity to boost the economy, and bring high-earning people in and help the tech centre in Newport, could the Government perhaps look to do more to assist Newport and Monmouthshire in getting sites ready and accelerating development to benefit from this?

I thank you for the question. Having complete coverage of adopted local development plans across Wales is really crucial in terms of ensuring that the homes that Wales needs are delivered. For the South Wales East area, there are significant opportunities and challenges that are larger than any single local planning authority, and are certainly best addressed through local authorities working together, which is why I'm pleased that the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for planning has written to local authorities in the area, inviting them to come together and submit plans to prepare a joint LDP.

We know that there has been a positive trend of house building across Wales—722 new dwellings completed in south Wales during the July to September quarter of 2017. But I do agree that the removal of the tolls does provide us with an opportunity to increase and improve the speed of house building, as does our innovative housing programme, for example, in the area. I'm keen to work with the local authorities and with house builders to ensure that we do that alongside registered social landlords.

Minister, what would certainly help address any increase in house prices would be delivery of Welsh Government plans for 20,000 extra affordable homes in this Assembly term. So, will your discussions with Newport City Council and Monmouthshire County Council include discussion as to how affordable homes can be best taken forward in that area?

I thank you for the question, and almost any discussion I ever have in this portfolio does include the important role of making sure that we hit our 20,000 target for affordable homes. But I'm also really keen to ensure that we do increase the speed and the amount of the development of homes for market sale as well, because we know that we need the whole diverse package in Wales to meet different people's needs for different types of housing. It's difficult to understand at the moment what the impact might be in the longer term on house prices in the area, but we're certainly keeping a very close watching brief on that. Were there to be increases in house prices, that would obviously be good for the local housing market and existing home owners. However, I do recognise that it could potentially have a big impact on the ability of local first-time buyers to access properties in high demand areas, which is why it's so important that we continue our housebuilding right across Wales, but particularly in this part of Wales, and why we look at what different kind of packages we can put together to support people to buy a home.

I'm really excited about the development work we're doing on the rent to own project. So, that will be a package available for people who can afford a market rent but haven't been able to save up a deposit for a home, and that will be able to allow them to buy a home under a new package that we're currently developing, and I hope to say more about that in the very near future.