What consideration has the Minister given to the specific housing challenges faced by Bridgend as highlighted in the report Small Towns, Big Issues prepared by Foundational Economy Research for the Welsh Government in June 2021?
We have considered the full range of structural challenges facing our town centres as highlighted in the Small Towns, Big Issues report. To help tackle these challenges, we established a Ministerial Town Centre Delivery Group (MTCDG), chaired by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change. The group, which includes experienced regeneration practitioners, focused on developing a suite of appropriate actions to address the key challenges highlighted within the Foundational Economy Research paper and the Regenerating Town Centres in Wales report published by Audit Wales. I will report to the Senedd in the coming months when the work of the group is complete.
The report highlights that the specific housing challenges facing Bridgend are due to ‘structural conditions’ which has seen disconnects after decades of dispersion of employment, housing and retail. This would also be true of many other towns, so it is important to acknowledge that this is not just an issue facing Bridgend.
These challenges form an important part of the MTCDG considerations.