Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 13 June 2018.
Right. I think that we may accept the difficulty of actually getting local councils run by the Labour Party, which do well under first-past-the-post, actually going towards a different system. I think you may actually recognise that that may be a problem. But we will move on.
Another area where we have something of a democratic deficit in Wales is in the planning system. Many local communities feel completely disempowered. When they unite, form protest groups and campaign against unwanted local developments, like major roads and intensive housing projects, then they find that, despite almost total local opposition, the scheme gets planning permission regardless. UKIP contends that we should allow for a local referendum in this instance. The result would be legally binding. This policy would democratise the planning process. Again, thinking about your comments earlier about how to empower local citizens, would you think again about adopting this policy yourself?