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Rating (Empty Properties) Bill

My contribution will be brief. I guess that there will be some slight differences in how the proposals will be implemented in Wales from in England. As a former mining community my area has not unique but different problems from those of bigger towns and cities. My constituency has four major town centres and a number of small retail areas that used to rely on a pit at the end of the street. The turnover and take-up of properties, such as shops, small offices and factories, is small. Some of the properties have been empty, not for weeks or months, but for years. It has reached the stage where we do not even know who owns some of the properties. To take up the point made by the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill), it will be an onerous exercise to trace the owners. When I consider properties that have been empty for some time I hope that we can look at ways to reinvest money that is raised, whatever the outcome is, and turn them back into domestic dwellings. Instead of seeing dereliction in the streets, which will never change because of out-of-town shopping centres, I would rather see the areas redeveloped as domestic housing. If we can invest some of the taxes raised in that way, we would all benefit. To echo what other Members have said, none of us wants to see our towns and small retail areas boarded up, but that is what we are seeing now. We have just heard the announcement about the closure of Remploy. It has a factory in my constituency which is likely to sit empty for some considerable time. I hope that if there are to be exemptions, that sort of property could be included. My final point concerns exemptions for dwellings. In my constituency it is not a case of building houses, but of renovating terraced houses. Rate relief, albeit for a short space of time, helps first-time buyers who are looking to renovate. I hope that the Government will continue to consult as widely as possible. We have all had contact from the Confederation of British Industry about its concerns. Many groups have yet to have an input into the Bill. I hope that the Government will take notice of their comments and that over the next couple of months we will all have the opportunity to put thoughts and ideas forward.