Town-centre Businesses in Carmarthenshire

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:14 pm on 23 March 2022.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:14, 23 March 2022

Well, I welcome the Member's consistent call for land valuation to replace business rates, and, of course, as I've said earlier, the reform of business rates or otherwise is a matter for the Minister for Finance and Local Government.

But I continue to take an interest in the practical reality of where we are now and where we could be in the future, and that's why we have worked alongside towns in terms of a specific piece of work that we're doing, a specific funding, not just a Transforming Towns initiative, but the money we've given to the smart town centre, the towns into business fund, what we're looking to do to both measure and promote footfall within what we want to be thriving, living and working spaces. And when it comes to the work that Carmarthenshire council is doing, of course, they've had over £10 million from the Welsh Government in Transforming Towns grant funding, and that has helped with a range of transformation projects that the council is undertaking with that Welsh Government funding.

I do welcome the fact that, as I said earlier, local authorities of different political leaderships are looking to invest in their town centres, looking to invest in their future. I look forward to working with whoever the electors choose to continue leading and running Carmarthenshire County Council on the work that I think we will find a consensus for, in Carmarthenshire and across each of the economic regions, where, of course, local authorities are pooling and sharing a range of their resources.