: Well, I'm very pleased
to hear that there's a co-productive approach to this. I wonder
what the local residents might say to the increase in the number of
greenfield sites included in the local authority's replacement
local development plan, including 19 hectares south of Pont
Rhyd-y-cyff. On that, can you tell me what the Welsh Government's
approach, now that it's recently declared a climate emergency—? How
its approach to a planning authority's view of greenfield sites may
have changed? How are you influencing local authorities with that?
And to help Huw Irranca Davies out with this, what thoughts have
you given to Welsh Conservative policies of extending Help to Buy
to first-time buyers to bring neglected houses back into the
housing stock and create new homes alongside new-build homes?
(First Minister of
Wales): I thank the Member for those questions. It's always
been the policy of the Welsh Government that brownfield sites
should be the first priority in terms of redevelopment. But she
asks me what I think the reaction of local residents will be, and
I think what local residents will say is that more houses are
needed in their areas for their families and for people who don't
have the housing that they need, and most people recognise that
the house that they themselves live in was once a greenfield site
itself. So, actually when you talk to people about the housing
needs that are there in local communities, what they recognise is
that we are talking about their friends, their neighbours, their
families and the need for us to invest in housing here in Wales.
I read the 10-point plan that the Conservative Party published
last week in relation to homelessness, and there are some useful
ideas in there, which will be common between us, in making sure
that the Vagrancy Act 1824 is repealed, and some other practical
measures. I've no sense at all of not being willing to take good
ideas wherever they come from, and I've always felt that housing
is an issue that is largely shared across the floor of this
Assembly as a priority for the people that we represent...
