Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 9 October 2019.
Okay. Well, I'm encouraged to hear that you're having those conversations, because this isn't just about the past—there are shoddy developments that are getting through planning committees right now as we speak. Just in August, Persimmon received planning permission for a development near the town centre in Bridgend—prime development land. It contained no provision for affordable housing, with, instead, a cash payment equivalent to just £50,000 per affordable house that should have been provided—a development next door to a recently designated air quality management area, with officers acknowledging that the development would make the situation a lot worse. Planning officers insisted that because their local development plan, written in 2013, allocated this land for housing, then that decision overrode the air pollution concerns that weren't known at the time. It took precedence over the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and that, if the committee refused to give permission, the local authority would lose on appeal and have to pay costs. I remember when I was a local authority councillor being threatened with surcharge. Local authority councillors are still being threatened with surcharge, and that is not right. So, can you tell us, with the shoddy developments that are going through planning committees now, what can you do to halt them?