Planning Regulations

Part of 4. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:10 pm on 24 June 2020.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:10, 24 June 2020

Yes, I entirely agree with you, Huw. Myself and Hannah have been working very hard with both the industry, with local authorities and town and community councils and with other stakeholders in the food and drink industry, and in the regeneration thing, to pull a number of strands together to get a better 'normal' when we finally come out of the pandemic. There are a number of things we're trying to achieve. We're obviously wanting our hospitality industry to be able to be up and running in a safe way that allows them to conduct their business, and frankly allows us to all get out and see our friends and family in a convivial setting while making sure that we all stay safe.

But there's also something about regenerating our town centres and our small market towns and small villages that were already struggling in some respects, and it's about bringing those things together. So, my colleague Hannah Blythyn leads on that, but we've been working very hard across a number of sectors and stakeholders to do that. She's just currently taking part in a rapid review of that, of everything that pulls that together in order to do that. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to answer questions on that another time. She's been working very hard on it.