St. Athan academy project a huge risk

The biggest PFI in Welsh history will be the St. Athan Military Academy, which is to be developed in my constituency by the Metrix Consortium. With PFI becoming a widely-discredited method of financing public projects, concerns are growing around the St. Athan development. If last week's Private Eye is to be believed then the entire project is under threat due to a number of reasons.

PFI is likely to become more and more expensive as the credit crunch begins to bite. Private Eye reports that the Defence Training Review's executive board have said that there are "major affordability issues" for the project. The construction of the Academy will also coincide with a number of major building projects such as the London Olympics. At the Welsh level, the development will be taking place at the same time as housing across Wales is upgraded to the Welsh Quality Housing Standard. This will place huge pressure on the construction industry, and the prospect of migrant labour being brought in (likely to be non-unionised and badly paid) is significant. It has also been reported that 72% of military trainers do not want to move to South Wales. Added together, the privatisation of military training by the UK government appears to present huge risks to frontline military personnel.

The military academy is clearly a non-devolved issue. However, in the Senedd yesterday I asked the Leader of the House, Carywn Jones AM, to allow us a thorough debate on the issue. The reason I am pursuing this is because if the St. Athan project falls apart, we need assurances that the fallout will not affect Wales' budget or the work of the Assembly. We also need confirmation that the development of the academy will not divert construction resources away from the Welsh Quality Housing Standard, because upgrading housing is the real priority for Wales and is something Plaid Minister Jocelyn Davies is purposefully working for.

Leasehold law needs to be changed

I have been working on behalf of Mrs. Phillips, an 87 year-old widow who has lived in her house in Maerdy for 60 years. Glenys Phillips has never been informed that she is a leaseholder. The owner of the freehold has no legal obligation to inform a leaseholder of this or to ever contact the tenant. Mrs. Phillips now faces a stressful legal battle and the prospect of having to pay for the freehold owner's legal fees. There is nothing in the law which places a duty on freeholders to identify themselves to the leaseholder.

My argument is that the law needs to be changed. When freeholds are being bought and sold, the tenant should have a legal right to be informed about the sale. The freeholder is currently allowed anonymity and is under no obligation to respond to solicitors' letters.

There may be hundreds or even thousands of other residents across the country who do not realise that they are leaseholders. If people are worried they should check their deeds and see if they can ascertain whether their house is a freehold or leasehold. I am raising this publicly so that people with concerns can contact my office at the Assembly so that we can raise awareness and change the law get a fairer outcome for people like this. Glenys Phillips should be able to live out the rest of her life in decency and security without being pressurised by the prospect of paying out thousands of pounds to buy a house she thought she already owned.

Do you think you own your house? Perhaps it's time to check the deeds.

Tories oppose devolution of housing powers

My letter to Tory leader David Cameron appealing for Tory support for the development of devolution seems to have caused a bit of a stir. Two high profile Tories have responded to my letter. However, both have missed the point.

This is not an argument about affordable housing or the right to buy. Its about devolution. The time to argue about whether or not to suspend the right to buy should take place if and when the assembly government wants to change the law. At the moment, we are asking Westminster for the powers or the ability to change the law. Glyn Davies claims to support law making powers over devolved areas. Housing is devolved. Law making powers over housing should be devolved.

The Tories in Wales have made great efforts to shed their anti-Welsh devolution image. By opposing this LCO, they have failed their first practical test. Their words have been shown up as completely hollow, they clearly don't care about Welsh devolution.