May I make a declaration of interest that I am a shareholder in many community initiatives, which is on the public record? Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate this afternoon. As you know, I introduced a motion before the summer of last year on empowering communities—a motion that was passed by this Senedd. But, despite the fact that we had agreed on a way forward as a Senedd, the truth is that very little has happened, and things aren’t likely to happen soon either.

It was wonderful to be part of this inquiry, chaired by John Griffiths, and to visit some of the community initiatives in place. I take pride in the fact that Dwyfor Meirionnydd is in the vanguard when it comes to developing community initiatives, and that we have a very proud history of this in Gwynedd, with the latest news, for example, that Menter y Glan in Pennal has succeeded in raising the necessary funding as a community to purchase the Glan yr Afon pub. So, congratulations to them.

Indeed, all of this can be taken back to the UK’s first community enterprise, established in Llanaelhaearn—the Aelhaearn enterprise, formed by the late and incomparable Dr Carl Clowes and the residents of the area. Although Wales led the way in this area in the 1970s, it saddens me that we are now so far behind, particularly in looking to Scotland and England and the legislative powers that communities have there when it comes to the ownership of community assets and developing co-operatives in those areas.

This inquiry was interesting because of the wealth of evidence that it’s drawn together showing clearly the benefits of promoting these community enterprises. For example, communities that suffer more deprivation but have higher levels of community assets have better health and well-being outcomes, higher employment rates and lower levels of child poverty, as compared with deprived areas that don’t have high levels of community assets or community action.

This corresponds with research carried out by the Building Communities Trust, in collaboration with the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion. The results suggest that deprived areas with community assets are less likely to be identified as those being at risk. So, in other words, deprived communities that have community assets are usually more robust than those communities that don’t have these assets. There is hard evidence to support that too.   

Another thing that’s worth mentioning here is what was made clear in our evidence session, namely to what extent support and advice is available to those community groups that are trying to take on a community asset. Ultimately, the support is a long way from being adequate. It is by no means consistent, and varies across Wales. The groups in the sector have told us that they need that additional support to be available free of charge.

I would like to rehearse the call for the register of community assets to look at nurturing community skills. We need to develop some of those softer skills that are required within community groups to facilitate the ongoing running of assets, particularly in developing and transferring assets.

The report mentioned the need for the creation of a commission. Personally, I would favour legislation, but the Government has made it clear that it will not legislate in this area, despite the fact that it has been a manifesto commitment since 2006. In the absence of legislation, the commission is to be welcomed, but it truly needs to be established soon, and to see action taken soon.

As we face austerity 2.0, the very real risk is that our county councils will be tempted by fire sales of their assets in order to bring funding into the coffers, which will mean that more assets will be lost and communities will be disempowered further. So, in the response to this debate, I would like to hear the Government committing to hasten the establishment of the commission and provide a clear timetable for the commission before we lose more assets and lose real opportunities to empower our communities.

On a final note on housing and community leadership, there’s no need to say that strengthening community rights can help to grow community housing movements. The Welsh Government needs to assist communities in getting over barriers to make housing led by the community a popular form of housing, which happens in most European nations. By introducing legislation that enables community ownership of land and assets, communities can provide affordable homes that are safe in this climate, more efficient, and are developed by and with local people to meet local needs and the needs of future generations. Thank you.