2. What money has the Minister allocated to the housing and local government portfolio in respect of regeneration of Welsh high streets? OAQ53526

We're investing in our high streets through a range of measures, including up to £100 million over three years through the targeted regeneration investment programme, £26 million next year to provide further business rates relief for businesses across Wales, and £31.5 million for a town-centre loans scheme.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. Sir John Timpson, chairman of the Timpson chain, has said that making town centres more friendly to motorists will stop the rot of the high street. He doesn't subscribe to the simplistic assumption that the death of the high street is down to online retail—'You can't get keys cut online', he says—but it's largely down to motorists preferring to go somewhere they can easily access by car. That's why Timpson says 40 per cent of their trade is done out of town, and that's expected to rise to 70 per cent over the next 10 years. A couple of years ago, Timpson opened 95 new shops, shops that provide services not available to buy online, and yet only four of the new stores were on high streets—the rest being in or near out-of-town supermarkets. This is because, he says, local authorities are killing off the high street by making shopping inconvenient to the motorist. Increased trade on high streets leads to improved employment levels and increased business rates for local authorities. So, will you pledge to help fund de-pedestrianisation in dying town centres across Wales?

Thank you very much for that question. It is really important that we work very hard to increase the footfall in our town centres across Wales, and there are various ways in which we can do that, including through the investment that we are making in active travel, but also making sure that we have better interconnectivity between our various towns and communities. So, I think that the answer here isn't a simplistic one. It is about using our investment that we do have through the Building for the Future programme, to ensure that we have jobs in the city centre, and the investment that we make through our housing programme to ensure that we turn some of our empty properties into homes in our towns and city centres.

So, the answer really to having thriving vibrant high streets in the future is multifaceted and will require work across Government, and we are undertaking that work. The targeted regeneration investment scheme, for example, is a fantastic example of how we are rejuvenating high streets right across Wales, but also putting the power and the decision making there in the hands of local authorities so that they can come together and work out for themselves what their particular local priorities are, and then we'll support them to deliver them. 

Trefnydd, I believe that business improvement districts are a good way of seeing businesses and local community councils working together, and it's a good model I do believe, and Newtown is going through that process at the moment. Is it intended that any of the financial proceeds from a potential bid will be channelled through town and community councils so that they can work on behalf of their communities to influence the impact of other outcomes of bids? And, also, can you give consideration, along with your colleagues, of course, to provide further funding to extend this model to other towns across Powys through the allocation of the funding for specific area-based improvement district schemes, because I think they are very beneficial, particularly for, for example, improving tourism in a town centre? 

Thank you very much. I share your enthusiasm for business improvement districts as being a mechanism which brings local businesses and other stakeholders together with the aim of improving their trading environment and, again, making shopping a much more pleasant experience for the people who use those business areas and to attract more footfall to those areas. And that's one of the reasons why we have a revenue budget of £620,000 in 2019-20 to support wider community regeneration efforts, which do involve the expansion of business improvement district programmes to other areas. Certainly, were there to be other areas in Powys that would be interested in exploring how business improvement districts could work for them, I know that Welsh Government officials would be more than happy to develop those proposals with them. 

Minister, you will be aware that funding has been invested in trying to regenerate Swansea High Street. However, while there have been some improvements, we are still faced with a row of deserted crumbling old buildings in that area, as you know. Among them, we have the site of the historic, but now overgrown, Palace Theatre still dominating the area, which is a sad reflection on the city. Will you, therefore, commit the Welsh Government to having further discussions with Swansea Council and provide the necessary funding in order to tackle the remaining unsightly buildings along this key gateway to our city? 

Thank you for raising the issue of Swansea High Street. Certainly, it's an area I'm very familiar with, and I have seen the major improvements that have started to take place there over the past couple of years in particular, and I know that Swansea Council has particularly ambitious plans for the city as a whole. I'm quite excited by the housing-led regeneration that is taking place on Swansea High Street. I think that's a good model for other parts of Wales to look to, in terms of having more people living in our town centres, where the footfall is there then in order to make the most of all of the town's cafes and shops, and so on. I'd certainly be happy to have further conversations with Swansea to explore how we can support the regeneration efforts on High Street.