Support for House Builders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 24 April 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:33, 24 April 2018

Well, can I point to two things in particular? I mentioned there the house building engagement programme. Now, we are working with private developers, including SMEs, to understand and, of course, to tackle the barriers that they face to building more housing. That relationship is reflected in the recent announcement to quadruple the Wales property development fund to £40 million. That will be recycled over the 15-year life of the current scheme to an estimated investment of £270 million. But we also specifically want to support local builders to build the homes people need through a new partnership between Valleys councils and the Development Bank of Wales that will build on the fund. Just to give one example, there is an initiative in Rhondda Cynon Taf to make small parcels of public land available and therefore, of course, more attractive and accessible to SME developers.