7. Debate: The Role of the Planning System in Placemaking

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:09 pm on 15 May 2018.

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Photo of Hefin David Hefin David Labour 7:09, 15 May 2018

For some time since I was elected, there's been some distance between my view and the Welsh Government view. And, in recent days, Janet Finch-Saunders will be glad to know that the Welsh Government, in the form of the Cabinet Secretary, has gone some way to bridging the distance between us, and I'm very pleased—and I'll elaborate on why in a minute—that the Cabinet Secretary has taken the steps to do that. I've long felt that planning policy delivered through the mechanism of individual local development plans has been skewed too far in favour of the big housing developers and too far against local people and SME house builders, which I've mentioned before. The market has created a gap between local democracy and planning policy. We need to change that market, and we need to use market intervention to change that market.