Thursday, May 04, 2006
Normal Service resumes
It was back to the usual banter in the chamber yesterday, except that every comment now has an added edge as we enter the final year of the second Assembly and an imminent by-election. This was no better illustrated than by an exchange that involved Carl Sargeant, the Presiding Officer and Ieuan Wyn Jones during First Minister's question time.
The basis of these comments lay in a mistake by the Presiding Officer, who called the Leader of Plaid Cymru to ask a supplementary before Carl Sargeant has asked his:
Carl Sargeant: Will the First Minister make a statement on what action the Assembly is taking to economically redevelop town centres in Wales? OAQ1483(FM)
The First Minister: Town centres that have boarded-up shops are an inevitable disincentive to investment in the area, and local people are discouraged from using unattractive town centres that have not been redeveloped. That is why we have the town improvement scheme, which has brought considerable improvements to some of the town centres that have not benefited from the retail boom. As I understand it, two of those are in your area of Alyn and Deeside—Shotton and Queensferry—but there are many others, including Bangor, Caernarfon, Holyhead, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Wrexham. Those towns have also benefited and that is only in north Wales.
The Presiding Officer: I call the leader of the opposition. I am sorry; first, we will have the supplementary question.
Carl Sargeant: Thank you, Presiding Officer. In ‘Wales: A Vibrant Economy’, we acknowledge that maintaining and building a strong economy is possible only if people want to live and work in an area. In the Wales spatial plan, we made a commitment to enhance the attractiveness of town centres and reduce disincentives. What initiatives has the Assembly put in place in my constituency, Alyn and Deeside, to enhance shopping and town centres?
The First Minister: I walked up and down Shotton high street with your predecessor, Tom Middlehurst, on one notable occasion and you could see clearly that it could do with refurbishment. On the one hand, unemployment was quite low, but on the other, you could see that people were not spending their money on that high street. Their proximity to Chester is a particular problem for areas such as Shotton and Queensferry, which is why both towns have been included in the town improvement grant scheme. Indeed, I understand that £43,000 was spent on Shotton in the financial year 2005-06, which has just finished. I hope that that will kick-start a process by which traders themselves will realise the potential of keeping the people of Flintshire shopping in Flintshire, and not over the border in Chester as they have probably done for centuries.
The Presiding Officer: May I apologise? In my anxiety to get to question 11, I was rather discourteous to you, Carl Sargeant.
The Leader of the Opposition (Ieuan Wyn Jones): He may be the leader of the opposition after 2007. [Laughter.]
Obviously anything is possible in next May's Assembly elections.
The basis of these comments lay in a mistake by the Presiding Officer, who called the Leader of Plaid Cymru to ask a supplementary before Carl Sargeant has asked his:
Carl Sargeant: Will the First Minister make a statement on what action the Assembly is taking to economically redevelop town centres in Wales? OAQ1483(FM)
The First Minister: Town centres that have boarded-up shops are an inevitable disincentive to investment in the area, and local people are discouraged from using unattractive town centres that have not been redeveloped. That is why we have the town improvement scheme, which has brought considerable improvements to some of the town centres that have not benefited from the retail boom. As I understand it, two of those are in your area of Alyn and Deeside—Shotton and Queensferry—but there are many others, including Bangor, Caernarfon, Holyhead, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Wrexham. Those towns have also benefited and that is only in north Wales.
The Presiding Officer: I call the leader of the opposition. I am sorry; first, we will have the supplementary question.
Carl Sargeant: Thank you, Presiding Officer. In ‘Wales: A Vibrant Economy’, we acknowledge that maintaining and building a strong economy is possible only if people want to live and work in an area. In the Wales spatial plan, we made a commitment to enhance the attractiveness of town centres and reduce disincentives. What initiatives has the Assembly put in place in my constituency, Alyn and Deeside, to enhance shopping and town centres?
The First Minister: I walked up and down Shotton high street with your predecessor, Tom Middlehurst, on one notable occasion and you could see clearly that it could do with refurbishment. On the one hand, unemployment was quite low, but on the other, you could see that people were not spending their money on that high street. Their proximity to Chester is a particular problem for areas such as Shotton and Queensferry, which is why both towns have been included in the town improvement grant scheme. Indeed, I understand that £43,000 was spent on Shotton in the financial year 2005-06, which has just finished. I hope that that will kick-start a process by which traders themselves will realise the potential of keeping the people of Flintshire shopping in Flintshire, and not over the border in Chester as they have probably done for centuries.
The Presiding Officer: May I apologise? In my anxiety to get to question 11, I was rather discourteous to you, Carl Sargeant.
The Leader of the Opposition (Ieuan Wyn Jones): He may be the leader of the opposition after 2007. [Laughter.]
Obviously anything is possible in next May's Assembly elections.
