Jenny Rathbone: 1. What is the Welsh Government's strategy for tackling air pollution in Wales? OAQ(5)0592(FM)
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, First Minister. We know that air pollution kills more people than are killed in road traffic accidents, and even the UK Government admits it’s the largest environmental threat to public health in the UK. A cross-party group in the House of Commons called it a public health emergency. These air quality management areas include an area of Newport Road, where I’ve got no less than...
Jenny Rathbone: [Continues.]—what the Welsh Government interprets from this plan and what it sees as its responsibility in ensuring that communities like mine are relieved of this appalling thing.
Jenny Rathbone: Some six weeks ago, Julie Morgan and I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for the environment and planning about the threat to the most vibrant live music venue in Cardiff, which is at Womanby Street, because of the threat of planning applications for a hotel and some residential units as well. I’m delighted to see that the Cabinet Secretary for the environment and planning is now back with us...
Jenny Rathbone: 4. What plans does Transport for Wales have for relieving congestion to the east of Cardiff? OAQ(5)0159(EI)
Jenny Rathbone: Well, we can certainly agree on that. But it’s now five years since Mark Barry’s report ‘A Metro for Wales’ Capital City Region’ and two years since the Cardiff capital region board agreed we needed an integrated transport system as a catalyst for economic change. Meanwhile, more and more people are piling in to Cardiff and Newport by car and massively increasing the congestion and...
Jenny Rathbone: I appreciate that it’s the primary responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for climate change and the environment, but I hope we can see a whole-system approach by the whole Government. I’m sure that the Cabinet Secretary for Education would also have some responsibility for ensuring that our children in school are not being subjected to unnecessary levels of nitrogen dioxide. Therefore,...
Jenny Rathbone: It is a strange irony, is it not, that Arriva trains receives one of the highest subsidies of any public train provider, and yet has just declared record profits. I’m sure that you, like me, would like to see a Government with a more rational approach to the way we run our railways after 8 June. But, for now, we have a UK Government that is, unfortunately, committed to insisting that the...
Jenny Rathbone: I actually agree with Dai Lloyd and Ken Skates that the role played by the taxi drivers in Liverpool and Manchester was absolutely exemplary. Most taxi drivers are a reflection of the best of the culture of the communities where they work and that was seen last night. However, I think that, although this is a service operated by private companies, the public regards it as a public service,...
Jenny Rathbone: It’s good to hear from a GP who is reflective on their behaviour, because far too often, I’m afraid, some GPs have reached for the script, rather than other solutions to people’s mental distress. Last night, I spent quite a lot of time running around trying to contact people who were yet to register to vote in order to beat the midnight deadline. Many were delighted to be reminded that...
Jenny Rathbone: Will the Cabinet Member make a statement on the current level of Communities First activity in Cardiff?
Jenny Rathbone: I hope we’re not going to wait until Brexit before doing something about this because there are lots of things that the Government could be doing now. One is that we could be planting more fruit trees because we need to plant more trees generally and, if we have fruit trees, then their produce is available. But, more strategically, I wondered if we could have a much more urgent approach to...
Jenny Rathbone: 1. What is the First Minister’s assessment of the implications for Wales of no trade deal with the EU? OAQ(5)0635(FM)
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, First Minister. I find it difficult to understand how Theresa May continues to say that no deal would be better than a bad deal, because I struggle to understand what the difference is. This is something that the journalists don’t seem to have asked her, or don’t have the opportunity to ask her. But I’ve read that some experts say that it could cost as much as £45 billion if...
Jenny Rathbone: I thank Steffan Lewis for raising this question. I think that the blockade of Qatar also enables us to look at the way in which the Saudis in particular are using the blockade of Yemen to try and achieve political ends and the implications for the whole population of the Yemen, including 17 million people needing humanitarian aid and 10 million people in desperate need of food aid...
Jenny Rathbone: On Monday, I opened a development of 24 homes on a brownfield site that had been abandoned for years. Do you not think that more of those sorts of small-scale developments, as part of existing communities, are part of the way forward, rather than massive developments plonked in the middle of nowhere with no transport connections?
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. Will you agree with me that there are three challenges? One is the absolute unaffordability of housing. If we’ve got 0.25 million people on housing benefit, that tells you that the cost of homes is completely unaffordable, and it’s certainly not possible for people on average earnings to be able to afford a mortgage at current prices. No. 2: we need to ensure that...
Jenny Rathbone: Will the Minister take an intervention?
Jenny Rathbone: Could you explain why it is in this country that house builders generally are so averse to timber-framed housing when they are commonplace in the United States, Canada and in Scandinavia? What is it? Is it the financiers, or is it the house builders who are too conservative and only want to build the less than adequate housing they’re currently building?
Jenny Rathbone: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the level of funding for schools in Cardiff?
