6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Local Communities

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:57 pm on 4 May 2022.

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Photo of Carolyn Thomas Carolyn Thomas Labour 3:57, 4 May 2022

I was referring to the rugby club, so that's what I know about, but I do know about the Queen's buildings too. All this funding is really important, whether it's European funding, Welsh Government funding, funding from the UK Government as well. It's really important to enable facilities for our residents, so I can agree with you.

Welsh Government has also funded learning hubs. I visited Tŷ Calon in Queensferry recently, another combined sports and community facility funded by Welsh Government. It's next to the Welsh Government-funded adult disability day-care centre, Hwb Cyfle, and the pupil referral unit. It's run by various charities and organisations running community facilities and learning. And the first of its kind health and well-being centre will be built in Pen-y-groes, on the site of a former bus depot, working in partnership with Grŵp Cynefin, Gwynedd Council and the health board. It will be a modern hub offering access to health, dental, pharmacy and preventative services, social services, care for the elderly, offices, a crèche facility and an art place on the site for the local community, with funding from Welsh Government's integrated care fund funding.

Now, all this is despite the UK Government cutting public service funding, and Wales would be £3 billion better off if funding from the UK Government had risen in line with the economy. And now we have lost European funding, of which Wales was a net beneficiary. Of the replacement UK funding stream, the community renewal fund, there were 26 unsuccessful bids from Wales and hundreds from across the UK. I had a check, there were 21 pages. It's not the Welsh Government that's letting down Welsh communities; Brexit and the entirely unfit for purpose replacement funding has meant that investment opportunities for communities are dwindling—