Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:31 pm on 27 March 2019.

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Photo of Leanne Wood Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru 2:31, 27 March 2019

Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, according to StatsWales, local authorities have granted planning permission for housing developments that should have resulted in the provision of 13,355 affordable houses, but only 6,746 have actually been built, which is just over 50 per cent of what we should have had. In some local authorities, the figure is even worse: in Wrexham, for example, just 16 per cent of the affordable homes promised within developments have been delivered. In some cases, what appears to have happened is that—[Inaudible.]planning permission, have negotiated their affordable housing requirements down so that the development can end up being more profitable, and, in doing this, they threaten the local authority with going to the Planning Inspectorate, which, as we all know, is not based in Wales, if they don't get their own way. Given that we've lost almost 7,000 affordable homes that we should have had because of this, do you have confidence that the existing planning system is capable of helping you to achieve your objectives on housing?