3. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:03 pm on 4 December 2018.

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Photo of Mike Hedges Mike Hedges Labour 5:03, 4 December 2018

I would like to make two requests for Welsh Government statements. The first is one that the leader of the house is quite used to me asking about, but I make no apologies for continuing to do so because it's hugely important to my and her constituents, and that is an update on Virgin Media job losses and the Welsh Government support for those who are losing their jobs, and it's getting very close now to the time when everybody will be losing their jobs.

The second is a Welsh Government statement on the Planning Inspectorate, including planning inspectors giving permission for houses in multiple occupation against the wishes of the council and local people. I'm sure that's something that the leader of the house knows a great deal about. And if I say Brynmill, well, St Thomas and Port Tennant have now become the new Brynmill. As you know, I do not believe that there's a role for the planning inspector in a democracy. Councils should decide, and an unhappy applicant should go to judicial review. Someone coming in who knows nothing about the area, making decisions that have catastrophic affects upon the lives of individuals, I think, is anti-democratic, and it certainly causes huge problems in my area and, as I know in the past, it has in yours.