Town Councils in North-east Wales

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 16 September 2020.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 3:04, 16 September 2020

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.