Lee Waters: I recognise the points that you make. Isn’t that an argument, though, for better enforcement, and for working with families to help them to change their behaviour, rather than simply saying we should abandon the push for greater recycling?
Lee Waters: It’s a pleasure to follow my friend Jeremy Miles, and to echo his call for free thinkers to engage with the debate around our future infrastructure needs. I do have some hesitation about the emphasis on the importance of infrastructure. As we’ve discussed previously in this Chamber, the future economic pressures we face demand a more agile and rapid iterative response rather than focusing...
Lee Waters: Sadly, I’m out of time.
Lee Waters: Getting an exemption—. As it happens, Dai Lloyd, I’ve given way to Adam Price more times than he’s given way to me.
Lee Waters: Absolutely. An exemption was granted for the Llandeilo bypass so it wouldn’t need to be looked at by the independent commission, knowing full well that, on the basis of a £1.16 return on investment, it wouldn’t pass muster. I do find that breathtakingly cynical when he’s then demanding that other schemes have to pass a similar test. We’ve all signed up to tackling climate change. We...
Lee Waters: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I attended, with other Members, the lobby lunchtime of park home residents and recognise their anxiety, as many residents are on low incomes, have retired, that they would like action on these charges, and I strongly welcome your suggestion that you are minded to either reduce or remove the charge. Clearly, a balanced judgment needs to be made, and I strongly...
Lee Waters: 4. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with Estyn about the next inspection round? OAQ(5)0093(EDU)
Lee Waters: Thank you, Minister. The most recent annual report by the chief inspector of schools showed there was far too much variation in standards of teaching, learning and leadership in schools across Wales. Given that, is the Minister concerned that Estyn is not planning or inspecting local education authorities in the next inspection round? Instead, it plans to focus on the regional consortia.
Lee Waters: Before I start with my remarks, can I just express my condolences and thoughts with our colleagues in Westminster this afternoon, where the incident is being treated as a terrorist one for now and our solidarity and best wishes are with them all? May I congratulate Jeremy Miles for bringing forward this debate? I think these individual Member debates are proving to be a very useful device...
Lee Waters: I rise in support of the Government amendment and in support of the ambition of the policy of creating a million Welsh speakers. I applaud the ambition, in particular, of the Welsh Government’s policy, and we should be under no illusion about what a radical policy this is. We’ve had a decline in the Welsh language for a century or more, and we are proposing, within the next 30 years, not...
Lee Waters: Leanne Wood, I’d be happy to take an intervention, but I’m afraid I can’t hear you.
Lee Waters: Give me a chance to develop my argument and I’ll happily address that, but I simply don’t accept the idea that people who are concerned about the way that this policy is being implemented in Carmarthenshire are opposed to this policy. One of the things I deeply resented in the debate over the last couple of months is that people who are raising genuine concerns about the practical...
Lee Waters: Well, I challenge Leanne Wood to give me an example of what I’ve done to intensify this debate. I did find it really unhelpful of Neil Hamilton to turn up and join a picket line in Llangennech, which I found to be deeply disrespectful to the village, the school, the teachers and the pupils of that village. There’s been—
Lee Waters: No, I’d like to make some progress, if I can—there are lots of points I want to cover in a short period of time. There are some genuine concerns in the village of Llangennech about the way this has been implemented. For Simon Thomas to say that there’s no room to question the decision I think is wrong headed. The process he set out is an incomplete one, because the one thing we’re...
Lee Waters: I’d be happy to take an intervention from Leanne Wood, because I thought that comment was unworthy of her. If she wants to make an intervention I’ll happily give her one, because I found her contribution so far to be incendiary.
Lee Waters: I think the mask has slipped, Llywydd, this afternoon. I think you’ve shown your true colours there, Leanne Wood, who’s trying to weaponise this debate for unhelpful reasons. I’ve tried very hard to take the heat out of this debate and I don’t think it’s helpful to demonise parents with legitimate concerns. I had hoped to—[Interruption.]
Lee Waters: And this is typical of the debate that we’ve been having, I’m afraid, that the genuine, sincere concerns of somebody who wants this policy to succeed is being heckled and shouted down by people impugning my motives towards the language, and I resent it and this Assembly needs to do better than that. And if we’re going to take the people of Wales with us, take the people of my...
Lee Waters: This is what I’ve been having to put up with, Llywydd, and I don’t think it’s helpful. I genuinely want to work on a cross-party basis to bring the community with us to achieve this policy and I’m afraid that Leanne Wood, for all her comments to the contrary, has achieved the opposite.
Lee Waters: And that wasn’t the speech I wanted to make.
Lee Waters: First Minister, yesterday’s report by the British Heart Foundation underlined the links between roads policy and health outcomes. The fact that 42 per cent of people in Wales are physically inactive, leading to long-term ill health and costs to the health service, is directly related to the decline in active travel over many years. When future roads are considered, will the First Minister...
