Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 17 November 2021.
Minister, corporate joint committees, like my colleague Sam Rowlands has said, are basically Government reorganisation by the back door. They were rejected by the WLGA leaders group because they create unnecessary layers of costly bureaucracy and they take decision making further away from local communities, which undermines the whole process of devolution of powers to our local communities and councils. The one established in mid Wales is going to have a say over strategic planning. Minister, local communities and the directly elected councillors should and must be able to have a say over strategic planning and the future development plans for their communities. So, Minister, will you do all you can to ensure that local communities will have a voice on CJCs and that they will not be pushed further away from decision making that affects their communities? Diolch, Llywydd.