Right to Bid: Labour should make up its mind
Welsh Conservatives have welcomed the Labour government’s progress towards boosted community rights but criticised its latest announcement as a ‘watered-down version’ of the UK government’s ‘right to bid’ scheme.
Labour’s Communities Minister has today issued a written statement announcing a consultation paper on ‘assets of community value’, setting out ‘current policy and context’ and setting out options ‘to take forward a Welsh model’.
In England, under a Conservative-led UK government, the right to bid has long empowered communities to help save threatened local assets. No such power exists in Wales and it could be months before any similar action is taken by Labour.
As part of a continued campaign urging Labour Ministers to put that disparity right, Welsh Conservatives recently launched a ‘Support Your Local Pub’ campaign, aimed at halting the decline of public houses across Wales.
This on-going drive for change calls for the introduction of the ‘Community Right to Bid’, lowered business rates and the reduction of red tape.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Communities, Mark Isherwood AM, said:
“All this amounts to is a watered-down version of the Conservative-led UK Government’s right to bid.
“It’s heartening to see Labour ministers finally sitting up and taking notice of Welsh Conservatives’ long-term calls for community empowerment – but their refusal to bite the bullet and do the right thing is equally disappointing.
“Labour’s approach to localism and the right to bid is messy, muddled and lazy.
“Whether a pub, post office or leisure centre; if a local amenity is threatened, the right to bid could offer protection and allow local groups to take these hugely important assets into their own hands, trusting the people and turning the power thing upside down.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Local Government, Janet Finch-Saunders AM, said:
“I have long campaigned for a Wales where local communities are given greater control over their own destinies.
“While today’s announcement of a consultation is a step in the right direction, it has taken far too long and doesn’t go far enough.”
Notes to Editors:
Welsh Government statements are available here:
www.gov.wales/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2015/
ENDS