Jules Birch reflects on the continuing importance of WHQ as the voice for Welsh housing as he steps down as editor.
This issue will be my last as editor of WHQ. The conjunction of a new Senedd and Welsh Government and me reducing my workload feels like a good moment to hand the baton on to somebody new. I’m sure that Sally Hales will bring fresh energy and ideas to the job and that WHQ readers will give her a warm welcome.
Welsh housing feels very much like home to me after 13 years in the job. Wales has developed its own devolved solutions to policy problems, often leading the way for the rest of the UK, and I’m sure that will continue whoever forms the new Welsh Government on May 7. I will still be writing about housing as a freelancer and I hope that to speak to many of you again soon.
WHQ will always feel like home to me too. As only the third editor, after Angela Evans and Tamsin Stirling, I’ve been very conscious of its importance as an independent voice for Welsh housing, mostly supportive, sometimes critical, but I hope always constructive. In an era when magazines and newspapers are under pressure as never before, with AI just the latest threat to their future, I believe it’s more important than ever to preserve what is the only Welsh magazine covering Welsh housing issues.
WHQ was founded by Cardiff University and is now published by CIH Cymru but it is very much the magazine for everyone who works or has an interest in Welsh housing and regeneration. None of it would be possible without a host of people contributing their time, energy, ideas and articles to the cause. I’d like to thank in particular Keith Edwards, Kevin Howell and Matt Dicks as directors of CIH Cymru, everyone who has served on the WHQ advisory board and especially its chairs Judy Wayne, Antonia Forte and Tom Broadhead, and finally the Welsh Government for its steadfast support.
WHQ is the magazine for – but also by – everyone in Welsh housing. Please continue to support us by reading, suggesting ideas, writing articles and hopefully subscribing and advertising too. As WHQ enters its 36th year of publication, may it go from strength to strength.