Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 19 October 2022.
Thank you, Minister. I can honestly assure you that no-one has ever needed to put words in my mouth. We don't need to go back to the 1930s; 23 years is long enough for the people of Wales to have been failed by your lack of house building. Central to the house building process in Wales are planning and regulatory officers, but so overwhelmed are they with work that I know my own local authority is not able to check adherence to planning conditions, and are now only pursuing enforcement upon complaint. [Interruption.] Sh!
Minister, the Welsh Local Government Association, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Wales, Newport City Council, Flintshire County Council and Caerphilly have expressed concerns about a lack of resources and capacity within local authorities for enforcement. So, will you co-operate with us, with your officers across our planning authorities, to ensure that they do have the necessary resources to deal with planning more quickly—more planning applications allowed to go through—so that it helps towards your targets? And, also, we need to have an efficient enforcement process in Wales. Thank you.