9. Will the Minister make a statement on how the Welsh Government is empowering town councils in north-east Wales? OQ55479

Town councils have been and continue to be an important part of the COVID-19 response and recovery. The Welsh Government is supporting town councils to exercise their current powers to make a difference for their local communities and is taking through legislation to give the sector a wider range of powers, provided certain conditions are met. We are also seeking to further empower town councils through access to Welsh Government funding schemes and our Transforming Towns work.

Thank you for that answer, Deputy Minister. Town and community councils play a vital role in supporting their communities and the Government should do all it can to empower them. A particularly good example of this great work is the work done by Pen-y-ffordd Community Council in my own constituency. The council are very keen to ensure that their community's voice is heard in the development of Welsh Government planning policy. Deputy Minister, can I invite you and the Minister responsible for planning, Julie James, to come and visit Pen-y-Ffordd and hear first-hand from the community?

[Inaudible.]

We could go on a tour, Julie.

I thank the Member for his question, and as he rightly says, there are a number of very hard-working and very effective town and community councils that not only have gone above and beyond in the past six months, but are very embedded in the communities in terms of the work that they do to make a difference, day in, day out, in those communities.

The first thing to say—and I'm sure the councillors of Pen-y-Ffordd will be well into this already—is that Flintshire County Council are currently going through the LDP process, so it's really important that the community council fully represent the voices of their constituents in their patch during this process. I'm advised also that the community council did input into and comment on the last revision of 'Planning Policy Wales', and whilst that revision has taken place, I'm more than happy to have that conversation, not just around planning, because I think there are other ways in which we can better work with community town councils to empower—for example in line with the Transforming Towns work, in terms of the town centre adaptations. And I know, right across Wales, town councils have come forward with proposals that local authorities have then progressed, because they're there on the ground, understanding, perhaps, what needs to be done on their doorstep.

But also things like the circular economy fund, which, this time, was for public sector bodies—so, not just local authorities. It's been opened to town and community councils as well, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to see some examples of, actually, how they could be shared and spread out in the future too.

Neil McEvoy isn't present to ask his question 10. Question 11—Paul Davies.

Question 10 [OQ55490] not asked.