Carwyn Jones: Up-to-date adopted local development plans are an essential part of an effective planning system.
Carwyn Jones: The Member lives in a land of fantasy. He’s been living in it for the past three years and he didn’t even ask a proper question.
Carwyn Jones: There are real challenges of course for the entire area of the south-east of Wales. Cardiff can’t be expected on its own, nor any other local authority, to provide housing for the entire region. That’s why it makes perfect sense, as my colleague, the Member for Caerphilly, says, that the 10 local authorities should work together in order to have a strategic plan that goes beyond the local...
Carwyn Jones: Well, we have seen significant increases in the number of houses being built in Wales over the past two years. It seems to me that, in England, the plans there are designed to block housing development and not to encourage housing development. What there needs to be, of course, is a properly regulated development plan so that people are able to see where development will take place. I don’t...
Carwyn Jones: There are serious issues, as she will know, of course, relating to opencast mining and the restoration of sites. We know that, in 1994, the UK Government did not require operators to set aside enough money for restoration, and so the UK Government have a moral responsibility to work with us to ensure that sites are restored.
Carwyn Jones: Well, I agree with the concern that she expresses. She will know that there is an effect on my constituency as well. In 1994, when privatisation took place, those companies that took over former British Coal sites were specifically excluded from being required to put aside finance for restoration, and this is why we are where we are now. Partial restoration is welcome, but it isn’t full...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I can assure the Member that a focused review of MTAN 2 was announced by the Minister prior to the UK Government’s announcement on coal-fired power stations, and that review, of course, will proceed, because we know that it’s important that the planning guidance is as up to date as possible.
Carwyn Jones: The difficulty in the site, of course, is that the site at the moment is in the custody of a company that, in reality, doesn’t exist. It’s registered in the British Virgin Islands, and if legal action were to be taken against it, I have no confidence that that organisation would continue to exist, leaving nobody, as she knows, against whom legal action can lie. To my mind, it is important...
Carwyn Jones: The vast majority of payments in Wales have been made—over 90 per cent, if I recall correctly. There are, as the Member says, some cross-border farms that await payment, and that’s because we’re awaiting data. It’s not the first time it’s happened, but we’re awaiting data from the Rural Payments Agency. Until that data is available, it’s not possible to make full payment,...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the solution is not in our hands. We await data from the Rural Payments Agency. We’re ready to pay once that data is made available. It’s very difficult to integrate the administration given the fact that the payment schemes are very radically different, and so they should be because the nature of Welsh farming is very different to the nature of farming across much of England. But,...
Carwyn Jones: The Member’s correct to point out that the vaccine is not available at present. I know that the Minister has held a meeting this week—or certainly at the end of last week—to look at this issue. There is a need to move forward with dealing with bovine TB. It can’t be left simply to proceed. The Minister is examining what science-led approach could be taken in order to make sure that,...
Carwyn Jones: We can’t send out information as a Government—that’s covered by purdah—but of course, as politicians, we can make our case. I’ll be making the case, as I know she will, over the next few days that Wales is better off in the UK and the EU—well, maybe not the UK as far as she’s concerned, but the EU. [Laughter.] The EU.
Carwyn Jones: It’s very difficult to produce a contingency plan when there’s such uncertainty. Nobody knows what would happen if there was to be a ‘leave’ vote. I took note of the fact that Nigel Farage himself last week said that it didn’t matter if there was a trade deal at all with the European Union. That’s disastrous for our farmers and for our exporters. For me, I’ve seen both...
Carwyn Jones: Again, it’s impossible to predict what might happen in the event of a leave vote. There are serious consequences for Northern Ireland—a part of the wold I know very, very well. The peace process is based on EU membership and what happens to the peace process is difficult to predict. The border is open with a motorway over it, and that border would be the border between the UK and the EU....
Carwyn Jones: So, he is against more spending on education; he is against the abolition of the Severn tolls; he is against the M4 relief road. These are three things that, apparently, he was in favour of last week. We have pressed the UK Government for the devolution of the tolls. We would expect there to be a fair financial settlement to reflect that, so that we can get rid of this tax on people coming...
Carwyn Jones: Borrowing it. That’s the whole point. The money for the M4 relief road, whatever it looks like, will be borrowed. The point of that is to make sure that (a) we’re able to do it, because we would not be able to build an M4 relief road of any shape or form if we didn’t borrow the money; and, secondly, through borrowing the money, it doesn’t eat into the roads budget. So, it means that...
Carwyn Jones: No. I sat here—or stood here, in fact—in the Chamber before the election, listening to the leader of the opposition, as he was then, saying that they would make spending commitments across the board, not knowing where that money was going to come from. It’s a legitimate question and there are two answers to it. First of all, yes, we will have to examine some of our current spending...
Carwyn Jones: Thank you. Llywydd, I understand you’ve given your permission for questions 3 and 5 to be grouped. The benefits to Wales of EU membership are wide ranging and fundamental to our prosperity. We know that, in recent years, EU funds have supported significant investments in the Welsh economy and labour market.
Carwyn Jones: No, we don’t. Higher education operates not on a little-Britain model but on a world model. It’s important that there’s access to as much finance as possible and access to as much academic brain power as possible. We also see of course, for example, in Swansea University, where the new campus has been built partially with the help of European money. Cutting ourselves off from the main...
Carwyn Jones: Well, firstly, of course, we must ensure that the United Kingdom is still part of the European Union after next week. It’s very important that we should be positive about what the European Union has done, namely that it’s brought democracy to eastern European countries; namely that funding has gone to those areas of Europe that needed it; namely, of course, investment in a number of parts...
