Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:59 pm on 29 September 2020.
We've all been familiar, particularly some of us representing the south Wales Valleys, with the challenges facing town centres over many years. We've seen not only online trading having an impact in eroding the viability of many retail offers, but we've also seen the growth of cities taking away the opportunities for smaller towns to compete. But the pandemic, in the way that it's worked, of course, has created a real crisis in cities as well, and has created a crisis where there may well be new opportunities now for towns that didn't exist six months ago, and I'm interested as to what the Welsh Government is doing in order to stimulate the creativity and the ambition for towns and town centres. If I look at the towns in my constituency, whether it's Tredegar, Ebbw Vale, Brynmawr or Abertillery, as well as the smaller communities that Dawn Bowden has already described, I'm not seeing the level of support from the local authority that I would want to see. I've met and discussed the situation facing our town centres with local government, and I'm disappointed in the response that I'm seeing from them. But I'm not seeing much creativity, quite frankly, from Welsh Government either, and I'm quite disappointed with the approach that Welsh Government is taking at the moment, because we have a tremendous opportunity here to lead thinking, to lead creativity, to change our futures, and to shape these places that are at the heart of all of our different communities. This is an opportunity, I think, for Welsh Government to demonstrate what the Government can do that local government isn't able to do at the moment, and that—