Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 27 March 2019.
Minister, we both agree that we need much more social housing in Wales, but it isn't just the new homes that are important; it's the public services that surround the communities that we create, and austerity is posing severe problems for local authorities in doing that—so much so that many new facilities like playgrounds are only being built through section 106 agreements. This weekend, we've seen the flaws in such an approach with the news that a housing development in south London has excluded children from a social housing section of a development from the playground provided through construction of an impenetrable hedge. Amidst passing the buck of responsibility, the local authority has said that the much smaller space is fine because it meets the legal requirements of play areas. The developer said that social housing tenants don't pay maintenance so their children shouldn't use the larger playing area. How did we allow our political discourse around social housing to descend to such a pathetic level? Will you investigate whether something similar may be happening in Wales?