The targeted regeneration investment programme is very much about locally led solutions for local regeneration. It's undertaken on a regional basis, but those discussions are undertaken amongst those local authorities within the region and it is for those local authorities to use their local knowledge to decide how to spend that £100 million. Welsh Government won't be directing how that money will be invested; it will genuinely be decided on the basis of local decisions and local knowledge and intelligence that our local authorities have.

So, alongside our investment in innovative housing, we are using that programme to support schemes that will stimulate the design and delivery of new, quality affordable homes to increase supply as part of our 20,000 new affordable homes target, and also to speed up the delivery of homes to market. It's also allowing us to trial new housing models and methods of delivery that address issues such as the pressing need for housing, fuel poverty, demographic change and climate change. For the first time, I've opened this fund up to SMEs and also the private sector, but I know it will be particularly interesting to SMEs, which have a strong track record of taking risks and of being the first people to innovate. That, alongside our stalled sites fund and our property development fund, will support them to return to house building in a way that they haven't been able to before recent years. It will be particularly important within our urban areas in infill sites and windfall sites, for example. 

We're also supporting a £27 million town centre loan scheme to assist in bringing empty sites and buildings back into viable use across 34 town centres. I've already seen some fantastic examples of use of this funding, bringing about real change. The exciting thing about this investment is that it can be recycled many times over, supporting more great regeneration projects over a 15-year period.

Business improvement districts enable local businesses to work together and bring additional private sector funding and investment into our urban areas. There are currently eight BIDs across Wales, and they will generate over £500 million of private investment during their term, which is a really significant return on our £240,000 investment. I recently announced funding of a further £270,000 to support the development of up to nine new BIDs. This is really exciting because the business community is well placed to be leading regeneration and economic development in their local areas, working closely with wider partners in a spirit of creativity and innovation.