Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 27 March 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:33, 27 March 2019

I think the Member raises a very important point, because the local authorities, who have, as we all know, suffered—this is their ninth year of austerity—have lost a number of skills from each individual local authority that enables them to withstand, for example, legal submissions by developers, particularly large developers across Wales, not so much with the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, and they are struggling to negotiate the right levels of social housing and other things, actually, out of their 106 and highways agreements and so on. We're very aware of that. We're in discussion with them about developing a pool of skilled resources to enable authorities to better withstand that kind of negotiation.

We're also, as I said, encouraging those who do not have a robust or very up-to-date local development plan in place to put one in place. I'll be looking at the national framework for Wales to make sure that we have a national framework properly constituted, within which the local authorities can sit more comfortably, which we have not yet done, but which we're developing. And I've recently discussed with the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales extending their remit to housing in order to be able to allow them to assist local authorities with the skills they need to do that. 

So, there are a number of steps that need to be taken. I recognise the danger that the Member outlined. We have had those discussions and I'm going to be continuing them over the next few months.