Housing Regeneration

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 15 October 2019.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 1:35, 15 October 2019

I thank the First Minister for that answer. I'm sure he'll agree with me that, when empty properties stand empty not just for months, but year on year on year, they're a blight on communities—they drag them down economically, they damage efforts at regeneration, and they do contribute to an air of despond in communities and on streets. Like broken teeth, they can stand ragged and broken on our high streets and our side streets, and, sometimes, some of these streets have more broken teeth than others. Yet these could be decent, affordable homes, brought back fit to life, fit to live in, bringing communities back to life as well. So, if landlords and owners are willing to work with their local authority and local communities, we can repair those gaping holes and help regenerate those communities. We can bring the smile back to our streets. So, the empty homes grant and the empty property loans, and other schemes to help landlords and owners do this, are very welcome. And we also need councils to use their powers when that fails. But can I ask the First Minister, how can we make sure that communities are directly involved in these decisions as well? Rather than it being a top-down approach, or something driven by individual landlords or owners, or even by a very proactive local authority, how do we make sure, and would he support the idea, that local communities themselves should be involved in identifying the properties that could be brought back into use, and maybe, in a spatial way, helping the local authority to bring these properties back into use?