Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 2 December 2020.
I’m pleased to hear about the round-table meetings. The crucial question is why hasn’t the Welsh Government’s economic policy led to better jobs and better paid employment in rural areas to help to keep those young people in their localities and to ensure that they can afford to purchase homes. But in order to maintain the growth of the Welsh language in the community, what assessment have you made of the use of the due regard principle on planning authorities to consider the impact of their decisions on the language? How often is that used to support growth, not only to safeguard the current foundations? For example, how many authorities have used defined local tenure conditions, which used to go alongside affordable housing targets, or sometimes were linked to them? And, also, there is this concept of Help to Buy being used for vacant properties rather than new properties.