4. Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition: COVID-19 Reconstruction — Challenges and Priorities

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:20 pm on 6 October 2020.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:20, 6 October 2020

Thank you for your statement, and very good to hear you've consulted so widely as we face such unprecedented upheavals, caused by not just one pandemic, but three tsunamis: the possibility of leaving the European Union without a trade deal, and the climate emergency. These things haven't gone away and the idea that we should go back to our bad old ways seems to me absolutely ridiculous, as I think Darren Millar was suggesting.

I very much welcome your proposal for more low-carbon social housing and upgrading our existing housing stock to be more energy efficient, but I just want to probe as to why you're not being a little bit more radical on this. Lord Deben, who chairs the UK climate change committee, was giving evidence to the climate change committee inquiry into carbon emissions last week, and he expressed disappointment that Wales has not used to the powers it has to change the building regulations to prevent what he called 'crap housing' continuing to be built. So, why is it not possible for the Senedd to amend Part L of the building regulations to raise the standards of private housing, and to give them the same standards that we are building social housing to? And also why are we not giving landlords notice that they will no longer be able to let homes that are below E-rated energy efficiency? It seems to me that that would be a huge stimulus to the economy in creating loads more jobs if landlords knew that they had to upgrade their properties by a certain date, and it would help to tackle fuel poverty.