7. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Housing

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:54 pm on 9 March 2022.

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Photo of Tom Giffard Tom Giffard Conservative 5:54, 9 March 2022

I did wonder, when I saw that I was following Hefin David, whether he was going to make a very similar point to me about how housing can regenerate the Valleys, and that's exactly what he did. Basically, Hefin, I've got five minutes' worth of speeches about Bridgend county borough and you've just talked about Caerphilly, so we'll replace one for the other and I'm very happy to sit down. I'll declare my interest as well as a councillor on Bridgend County Borough Council.

Can I just start by addressing the intervention Mike Hedges made earlier, which I think was probably better directed at me than my colleague Gareth Davies from the Vale of Clwyd? We were asked about the Swansea bay tidal lagoon. Obviously, I don't see the relevance, necessarily, to a debate on housing, but nevertheless, it's important to remind you, Mike, that that tidal lagoon project failed because it was a bad deal not only for taxpayers, but bill payers as well. It would have increased energy costs, and we're looking at the moment at an occasion where we're facing higher energy costs. But thankfully, there is a new privately funded—completely privately funded—lagoon proposed for Swansea bay. I met with DST Innovations on Monday. The project is very exciting and it's about time Welsh Government get behind it.