The Recovery of Welsh Towns

Part of 4. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 12:20 pm on 15 July 2020.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 12:20, 15 July 2020

(Translated)

Thank you for that response. One does accept, in the circumstances that we face, that it's inevitable that jobs will be lost. But what we are seeing now, and what I've noticed recently, is that we are seeing companies choosing to close sites in rural or coastal towns—the more peripheral communities—and to centralise jobs where there are headquarters, or where they have a greater presence or footprint. In my region alone, Mail Solutions in Llangollen has announced that they are closing the site there and moving the jobs to Telford. We also have Northwood Hygiene Products in Penygroes, near Caernarfon, which is also relocating posts.

Now, the impact of those job losses on those more peripheral communities is relatively worse, in terms of the impact that it has on those communities. So, I want to ask specifically how your strategy and how your approach to economic recovery in the post-COVID period is going to take particular account of that. What are you doing to encourage and to give reassurance to companies that are moving out of those areas to try and actually keep them there?