Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much to the Minister for her statement.
Rhys ab Owen: I, like Mike Hedges also, sent out your statement to many campaigners here in Cardiff Bay, and the responses I've had have all welcomed this statement by you. They're grateful that you've once again reiterated that leaseholders will not be picking up the bill. I'm grateful to you for mentioning that there will be some further technical assistance for leaseholders to navigate this process. I...
Rhys ab Owen: Trefnydd, I'd like a written statement, please, on the provision of 20 mph zones in semi-rural areas, as well as ensuring that drivers adhere to that speed limit. Recently, I've met with representatives and residents of Gwaelod-y-garth in north-west Cardiff, and they are fighting for greater safety for pedestrians, particularly older people and children, who have to walk through the village...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you, First Minister. It is disappointing that recycling rates in Cardiff are amongst the worst in Wales. Of the three local authorities that failed to deliver the target of 64 per cent in the Waste (Wales) Measure 2010, Cardiff is the worst by far, at 55.8 per cent. And I’m sure that the closure of recycling centres in Wedal Road and Waungron Road in recent years has had a detrimental...
Rhys ab Owen: 2. What discussions has the Welsh Government had with Cardiff Council regarding recycling rates in Cardiff? OQ57356
Rhys ab Owen: That’s why this Chamber needs post-legislative scrutiny of this Act. We need to reform it. We need to give it some teeth. We need to give it some enforceability. Give it a chance to make a real change for the people of Wales, so that we can use this Act to better ourselves, to better our communities, and to better our environment. This must become the focal point of how to fix the future...
Rhys ab Owen: How can we hope to change the way that we think in Wales and embed sustainable development into our lives when citizens can't even rely on the Act to do what the Act was intended to do? It's only when the people of Wales can use this Act to protect their local assets and to hold public bodies to account that this Act will fulfil its true potential. If the intention of this Act was to be a...
Rhys ab Owen: When the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, said of the Act that it wasn’t specific and it wasn't tight enough; when one of Wales’s leading silks, Rhodri Williams Queen's Counsel, described it as 'virtually useless'; when the eminent public law academic, Dr Sarah Nason from Bangor University, said it didn’t endow individuals with legal, enforceable rights, they were all...
Rhys ab Owen: How then can we sit here—and I've heard this in the six months that I've been in the Chamber—how can we sit here and praise the Act for being radical and saying that it's the envy of the world, when it doesn't even give our citizens the rights to protect their local assets and to hold their public bodies and local government to account? The fact that people use phrases such as 'the envy...
Rhys ab Owen: Many people, both inside this Chamber and outside it, have criticised this Act for its lack of enforceability. When a Labour backbencher, our own Counsel General, argued that the Act was far too loose and too woolly when he was debating it in its first reading, can we really tell ourselves here now, can we really tell the people of Wales, that it has become less woolly since? We simply can't....
Rhys ab Owen: Unlike the Welsh Language Commissioner, the future generations commissioner has no powers to punish public bodies that have breached their duties. The future generations commissioner has no powers to stop things from happening or to make them happen. On many occasions, and I'm sure this is true for other Members, local campaigners have approached me and have been very critical of the...
Rhys ab Owen: These principles were the roots of the Act, but the Act is yet to blossom, and that is because the Act has not had the opportunity to deliver its true potential.
Rhys ab Owen: I fear the Act has become some sort of a tick-box exercise. Local government and public bodies will say that they've considered it, that they've considered the future, and then move on regardless with their present plans. If asked, they will be able to show that they considered the Act whilst making decisions, but I'm unconvinced that they would be able to show that the Act influenced their...
Rhys ab Owen: In the auditor general's study into the future generations Act, he concluded that public bodies overwhelmingly focus on improving economic and social well-being over environmental and cultural objectives. We shouldn't need reminding, Llywydd, that COP26 again stressed the importance of enshrining environmental sustainability into everyday thinking and everyday planning. There is little point...
Rhys ab Owen: This is what the future generations Act was supposed to accomplish. But, after six years, and many court cases later, we see that the Act does not have the necessary powers to achieve its laudable objectives. I will concede that the Act, to an extent, has changed the way that we think. Some Welsh councils have declared a nature emergency and some other public bodies have taken some positive...
Rhys ab Owen: It's no wonder that this ambitious and wide-reaching Act was credited as the envy of the world by the Government and many others at the time and subsequently. That's why our future generations commissioner, Sophie Howe, was called by the United Nations to help them in their planning for a similar commissioner role modelled on Wales. That's why, when Lord John Bird, the co-founder of The Big...
Rhys ab Owen: Would you like me to begin now? Thank you very much, Llywydd. I have agreed to give a minute to my colleague Mabon ap Gwynfor. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 was passed in this Chamber six years ago. Its aim was to embed in our law, our public bodies and our culture, seven well-being goals and five sustainable development principles. These five principles were to be...
Rhys ab Owen: I'm glad that it seems that the south Wales metro line is finally moving forward; we've been discussing it for many years. I think the Counsel General said in the past that he described the south Wales metro line as some sort of Loch Ness project—nobody was quite sure whether it existed or not. But I'm glad, with the endorsement now of the Hendy report, maybe Nessie will come up for air now...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you, Minister. In the first quarter of 2022, the Saltmead Medical Centre in Grangetown and the Albert Road Surgery in Penarth will close their doors to thousands of patients for the last time. In addition, if the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board gets its way and proceeds with its proposals, the same thing will happen in Pentyrch. This, despite the fact that hundreds of homes...
Rhys ab Owen: I should also declare an interest in this as a member of the Wales and Chester Circuit, being a barrister. Now, you're quite right about the contribution of the legal sector to the Welsh economy; it's a similar proportion to the agriculture sector's contribution to the Welsh economy. I'm sure, Minister, you'll agree with me that a full range of legal apprenticeships up to level 7 would boost...
