Welsh face restrictions on right to buy powers
The Welsh Assembly Government has been forced to water down a bid for increased legal powers over housing.
The UK government has demanded amendments are made to a legislative competence order that the Welsh government hopes to use to gain the powers.
It has insisted the LCO should not devolve powers to abolish the right to buy or suspend it for more than 10 years. It has also asked for written assurances on the powers the Welsh are requesting over Gypsy and Traveller sites.
The LCO was introduced in the last parliament, but ran out of time before the general election. The coalition government promised to take forward the LCO, in its coalition agreement.
The Welsh deputy minister for housing, Jocelyn Davies, said she had believed the LCO could be taken forward as previously drafted, but this is not the case.
‘It is very disappointing that the UK government has refused to take forward the LCO unless we amend it,’ she said.
‘I see no need for the LCO to be amended and I have been pleased to receive the support of the vast majority of members for my position.’
Ms Davies explained it had never been the assembly government’s intention to ‘do away’ with the right to buy for tenants.
‘The order was introduced in December last year,’ she said. ‘Now, more than six months later, we find ourselves in great danger of being unable to bring forward a measure as part of our own legislative programme to address what we consider to be the more pressing issues before the end of this assembly term.’
The deputy housing minister consulted with members of the National Assembly for Wales on their views and is working with officials to table an amended version of the LCO to be presented to the chamber this week.
The Welsh Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Peter Black said: ‘In themselves these changes do not cause problems in the short term as there was never any intention to abolish the right to buy and any suspension would be for a much shorter period than ten years.
‘However, the principle here is that the UK government should not be limiting the Welsh government’s freedom for manoeuvre in this way in contravention of the agreement in the UK coalition document.’
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