NDM8018 Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv) - Empowering communities

NNDM8018 Mabon ap Gwynfor (Dwyfor Meirionnydd)

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes that Wales is home to thousands of local community groups, with hundreds running significant assets that make their communities better places to live.

2. Recognises the huge contribution community groups have made in supporting local people through the challenges of the pandemic.

3. Notes that the previous Welsh Government agreed with the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee's recommendation that it should “develop a programme of empowering communities across Wales with the voluntary sector, acting as an enabling state for community action”.

4. Notes the important role that local authorities often play in ensuring community ownership of assets, and working in partnership with community groups and other organisations to ensure successful community venture.

5. Notes the recent IWA report, Our Land: Communities and Land Use, which finds that Welsh communities are the least empowered in Britain and calls for a major shake-up of community policy in Wales.

6. Further notes the Wales Cooperative Centre’s recently published report, Community ownership of land and assets: Enabling the delivery of community-led housing in Wales.

7. Notes that Wales, unlike Scotland and England, has no legislation giving communities the right to buy local assets of community value.

8. Believes that enabling community groups to retain local buildings and land as community facilities and supporting them to develop active and engaged communities is key to building a more prosperous, equal and greener Wales.

9. Calls on the Welsh Government to:

a) coproduce a communities strategy to develop an enabling state for community action;

b) explore the legal options for establishing a community right to buy in Wales.

Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee: Impact of COVID-19 on the voluntary sector

Our Land: Communities and Land Use

Community ownership of land and assets: Enabling the delivery of community-led housing in Wales

Co-submitters

Luke Fletcher (South Wales West)

Buffy Williams (Rhondda)

Supporters

Adam Price (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Carolyn Thomas (North Wales)