Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 11 October 2022.
Thank you. It's a start. [Laughter.]
Importantly, our First Minister has called Wales a nation of sanctuary. So, for me, I have to start off my contribution today that there must not be here in Wales, at any time, any bias or prejudice to interfere against any person looking to buy a house in Wales. Now, I do respect the fact that the fair chance scheme, which may allow properties to be marketed locally only, for a fixed period, is voluntary, but by no means should this be made compulsory, because, after all, we do live in a free market.
Now, if we take Ireland, for instance, there are technically a million people who mention in the census and things that they can speak Irish, but, in reality, there are fewer than 80,000 who do speak that every day. That is the situation we're all working to avoid here, and we all want the Welsh language to thrive. However, we need sustainable communities and much better paid job opportunities in those areas where this plan is designed to support. At present, the two main sectors though, agriculture and tourism, have actually come under significant pressure from your Government, with all the regulations set on our farmers and also with tourism, with some of the moves now in tourism, and this is mainly as a result of the Labour and Plaid Cymru co-operation agreement.
Your plan quite rightly states that you've changed the rules around short-term holiday accommodation, introducing the 182 days barrier. Now, the case has been made against this so eloquently by the sector, and even the farming unions, so you've got to be a bit careful that what you're designing doesn't have unintended consequences, because it is completely illogical that farmers are likely to be charged a premium on their holiday let because they do not have enough customers or visitors to meet the 182 threshold, and planning conditions stop them from being rented in the private sector on the open market. These properties were only ever designed to be holiday let accommodation, and, when farmers have diversified, you should not be looking to pull that rug from under them.
Thankfully, the Conservative UK Government are backing schemes that will boost economic and community growth in west Wales, such as 200 jobs with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs at Holyhead. So, I would be pleased, Minister, if you could clarify how many jobs in west Wales—. The Arfor 2, which will be costing £11 million, how many jobs is that expected to deliver? And what kind of jobs? Are we talking now about higher paid roles? Because we mustn't forget here that, in Wales, the average median wage is £3,000 to £4,000 less than in England. So, if our local Welsh people were earning more money with better jobs, greater pay, then surely they would find it easier to actually then look to own their own homes.
We could also replicate our Prime Minister's low-tax investment zones. I know that the commission that you've set up is to help develop future policies too, but it could take two years for that commission to publish their report. So, is there any chance you'll be bringing that back any sooner, given the crisis facing some of our communities?
I was, however, disappointed to read in the plan that there is no evidence base currently of the problem of place names being changed. And I see this a lot, actually, in my own constituency. When we know of examples, such as farms—long, traditional Welsh family-owned farms—renamed Hakuna Matata, it seems unnecessary to commission specific research before you're prepared to take some kind of action.
It's going to take years before we see any progress at all on seeing local people more able to afford houses in their communities, because, fundamentally, this isn't the problem of second home owners or holiday let owners or guest house owners or anything. The fact is that the Welsh Labour Government have simply failed to build enough houses. In the first part of this year, the number is 1,236, I think it is, and that's considerably lower than the year before, so where is your dynamism to actually solve these problems in our Welsh communities by building houses?