The Purchase of Public Assets

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 9 March 2022.

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Photo of Peredur Owen Griffiths Peredur Owen Griffiths Plaid Cymru 2:22, 9 March 2022

I listened to your answer there and I hope that you were looking at the Institute of Welsh Affairs report on community empowerment that was and should have been a wake-up call for the Government, which found that communities in Wales are the least empowered in the UK. This chimes with conversations I had, actually, this week with somebody behind the project to reopen the Abertillery institute. With tears in their eyes, that person told me that many people had lost hope and that they believed that things wouldn't change in their community. It's a real anomaly that people in Wales have much fewer rights over their community assets than other counterparts in Scotland and even in England, which, you can't forget, is governed by a Tory Party traditionally not known for holding back developers. When can communities in Wales, which have inspiring community spirit, enjoy the same rights as communities across the rest of the UK?