English: Thank you for tabling the motion and for the range of contributions. I think the contributions show that, despite a clear consensus on the problem, there is no real clear consensus on the solution, because this is complex. There is a whole range of forces coming together. This is fundamentally about a changing marketplace, and James Evans in his contribution championed the role of the market in accelerating change, and we should also recognise that the market has also brought about many of the symptoms described by Members. The rise of supermarkets, I think, is one of the most significant forces to have shaped our town centres, when you think, inside the supermarket now, they sell almost everything that used to be sold by shops some 30 years ago in the town centre. The move, then, out of town, and then the move online have all come together to make town centres across the UK shadows of their former selves. And if it was as simple as Laura Anne Jones set out in her speech, as an issue of local political leadership, then you would expect to see a very different picture across the UK, but we do not. There are very similar trends right across the UK, and in fact right across the western world, as these forces have all been rippling their way through. We have recently published a set of reports, one by Audit Wales and another that I commissioned from Manchester university's Professor Karel Williams, 'Small Towns, Big Issues', which sets down the challenge but also says we need a complex, joined-up intervention to tackle the range of issues at play here, and we are now working through that. I've pulled together a group of experts to go through this report in detail, to understand how we can operationalise this, and Janet Finch-Saunders points out one of the issues, which is around the issue of the resource for planning departments. That is no doubt a factor. There is no simple answer to that, because resource is tight. It's one of the reasons why we've been supporting corporate joint committees to be able to pool resource and expertise across a region, to help with common services. They're also looking at the issue of the role of landlords and rents, which clearly is a constraint for many. The changing shape of a town centre and the fact that town centres, often, are surrounded by a 'doughnut', as Karel Williams describes, of low-income neighbourhoods, are driving a different cash flow into the town centre, whereas out-of-town is attracting higher income customers, which is in turn driving those type of shops and creating a spiral of decline. And we're seeing in those out-of-town shopping centres now an increasing hollowing out of empty units right across out-of-town shopping centres, across America and Europe, so these aren't forces that we face alone. And I think we do need to rethink the role of retail, both out of town and in town, and, as Sam Kurtz said in his contribution, the example of the 'town centre first' approach that we have championed in Carmarthen, of bringing public services into town centres to give footfall and to put services rather than just retail in the centre of where the shops and the town centres see their role. So, there are definitely changing dynamics at play. Many of these are complex. There is not a simple answer to a lot of these, and, as I say, we have set out, through an analysis by an independent academic, and now, through creating what they call an alliance for change, a commitment to work through these. But I think there are spots of optimism, and the example of Newport, I think, is one. I think Laura Anne Jones was overly harsh on Newport; no doubt it has struggled, as lots of towns have struggled. There has been some £30 million of Welsh Government investment in Newport. But I think the new revived market is an example of where the council has worked dynamically alongside the Welsh Government and the private sector, and we are hoping to see next month the opening of the new Newport market, with over 100 traders, a food court, a bar, workspaces, a gym and a rooftop garden, and I think that will create a positive dynamic that will attract people in and hopefully have a ripple effect. But there's no point in kidding ourselves that there are either partisan or simple solutions at hand, and I think it behoves us all to try and work together to identify some things that can be done. If it was as simple as simply rejigging business rates, then we'd have seen a reaction before now, because we have put significant support in for business rates across Wales for some time and it hasn't made a great deal of difference, to be honest. So, the search for simple answers, I think, is going to be a futile one; we need to recognise the complexity of this, recognise the multiplicity of forces at play and try and work together through building alliances for change in all sectors across the country to bring about a fresh purpose for our town centres.
Welsh: Diolch am gyflwyno'r cynnig ac am yr amrywiaeth o gyfraniadau. Er bod consensws clir ynghylch y broblem, credaf fod y cyfraniadau'n dangos nad oes consensws clir go iawn ynghylch yr ateb, oherwydd mae hyn yn gymhleth. Mae ystod eang o rymoedd yn dod at ei gilydd. Mae'n ymwneud yn sylfaenol â marchnad sy'n newid, ac roedd James Evans yn ei gyfraniad yn cefnogi rôl y farchnad yn cyflymu newid, a dylem hefyd gydnabod bod y farchnad wedi arwain at lawer o'r symptomau a ddisgrifiwyd gan yr Aelodau. Credaf mai'r cynnydd mewn archfarchnadoedd yw un o'r grymoedd mwyaf sylweddol sydd wedi siapio canol ein trefi, pan feddyliwch fod archfarchnadoedd bellach yn gwerthu bron bopeth yr arferid ei werthu mewn siopau tua 30 mlynedd yn ôl yng nghanol y dref. Mae symud i'r tu allan i'r dref felly, a symud ar-lein wedyn, i gyd wedi dod at ei gilydd i wneud canol trefi ar draws y DU yn llawer llai atyniadol na'r hyn yr arferent fod. A phe bai mor syml ag y nododd Laura Anne Jones yn ei haraith, yn fater o arweinyddiaeth wleidyddol leol, byddech yn disgwyl gweld darlun gwahanol iawn ledled y DU, ond nid ydym yn gweld hynny. Ceir tueddiadau tebyg iawn ledled y DU, ac ar draws y byd gorllewinol mewn gwirionedd, wrth i'r grymoedd hyn oll donni trwodd. Rydym wedi cyhoeddi cyfres o adroddiadau yn ddiweddar, un gan Archwilio Cymru ac un arall a gomisiynais gan yr Athro Karel Williams o brifysgol Manceinion, 'Small Towns, Big Issues', sy'n nodi'r her ond hefyd yn dweud bod angen ymyrraeth gymhleth, gydgysylltiedig arnom i fynd i'r afael â'r ystod o ffactorau sydd ar waith yma, ac rydym yn gweithio drwyddo yn awr. Rwyf wedi galw grŵp o arbenigwyr ynghyd i fynd drwy'r adroddiad hwn yn fanwl, i ddeall sut y gallwn weithredu hyn, ac mae Janet Finch-Saunders yn nodi un o'r problemau, sy'n ymwneud ag adnoddau ar gyfer adrannau cynllunio. Mae'n siŵr bod hynny'n ffactor. Nid oes ateb syml i hynny, oherwydd mae'r adnoddau'n gyfyngedig. Mae'n un o'r rhesymau pam ein bod wedi cefnogi cyd-bwyllgorau corfforaethol i allu cyfuno adnoddau ac arbenigedd ar draws rhanbarth, i helpu gyda gwasanaethau cyffredin. Maent hefyd yn edrych ar rôl landlordiaid a rhenti, sy'n amlwg yn cyfyngu ar lawer o bobl. Mae ffurf newidiol canol tref a'r ffaith bod canol trefi, yn aml, wedi'u hamgylchynu gan 'doesen', fel y mae Karel Williams yn ei ddisgrifio, o gymdogaethau incwm isel, yn gyrru llif arian gwahanol i mewn i ganol y dref, tra bod y tu allan i'r dref yn denu cwsmeriaid incwm uwch, sydd yn ei dro yn gyrru'r mathau hynny o siopau ac yn creu dirywiad cynyddol. Ac rydym yn gweld niferoedd cynyddol o unedau gwag yn y canolfannau siopa y tu allan i'r dref bellach, ledled America ac Ewrop, felly nid yw'r rhain yn rymoedd yr ydym yn eu hwynebu ar ein pen ein hunain. A chredaf fod angen inni ailystyried rôl manwerthu, y tu allan i'r dref ac yn y dref, ac fel y dywedodd Sam Kurtz yn ei gyfraniad, esiampl y dull 'canol tref yn gyntaf' a hyrwyddwyd gennym yng Nghaerfyrddin, a dod â gwasanaethau cyhoeddus i ganol trefi er mwyn cynyddu niferoedd ymwelwyr a chynnig gwasanaethau yn hytrach na manwerthu'n unig ynghanol y mannau lle mae'r siopau a chanol trefi'n gweld eu rôl. Felly, mae deinameg newidiol ar waith yn bendant. Mae llawer o'r rhain yn gymhleth. Ni cheir ateb syml i lawer ohonynt, ac fel y dywedaf, rydym wedi nodi, drwy ddadansoddiad gan academydd annibynnol, ac yn awr, drwy greu'r hyn y maent yn ei alw'n gynghrair dros newid, ymrwymiad i weithio drwy'r rhain. Ond rwy'n credu bod ychydig o le i optimistiaeth, ac rwy'n meddwl bod enghraifft Casnewydd yn un. Credaf fod Laura Anne Jones yn rhy llym ar Gasnewydd; mae'n siŵr ei bod wedi ei chael hi'n anodd, fel y mae llawer o drefi wedi ei chael hi'n anodd. Cafwyd oddeutu £30 miliwn o fuddsoddiad gan Lywodraeth Cymru yng Nghasnewydd. Ond rwy'n credu bod y farchnad newydd sydd wedi'i hadfywio yn enghraifft o lle mae'r cyngor wedi gweithio'n ddeinamig ochr yn ochr â Llywodraeth Cymru a'r sector preifat, ac rydym yn gobeithio gweld agor marchnad newydd Casnewydd y mis nesaf, gyda dros 100 o fasnachwyr, llys bwyd, bar, gweithleoedd, campfa a gardd ar y to, a chredaf y bydd hynny'n creu deinameg cadarnhaol a fydd yn denu pobl i mewn ac yn arwain at effaith ganlyniadol, gobeithio. Ond nid oes diben twyllo ein hunain fod atebion pleidiol neu syml wrth law, a chredaf ei bod yn ddyletswydd arnom i gyd i geisio cydweithio i nodi rhai pethau y gellir eu gwneud. Pe bai mor syml ag ail-lunio ardrethi busnes yn unig, byddem wedi gweld ymateb cyn hyn, oherwydd rydym wedi rhoi cefnogaeth sylweddol i ardrethi busnes ledled Cymru ers peth amser ac nid yw wedi gwneud llawer o wahaniaeth, a bod yn onest. Felly, rwy'n credu mai ofer yw chwilio am atebion syml; mae angen inni gydnabod cymhlethdod hyn, cydnabod y grymoedd lluosog sydd ar waith a cheisio cydweithio drwy adeiladu cynghreiriau ar gyfer newid ym mhob sector ledled y wlad er mwyn sicrhau pwrpas newydd i ganol ein trefi.