Lee Waters: Well, Llywydd, there are two separate points to address there, and I'll try and address them both. On the first, I was present yesterday afternoon during business questions, and I heard the quite harrowing accounts by the Member of the experience she and fellow passengers had had, and I was very sorry to hear it. I met with the chair and the chief executive of Transport for Wales straight...
Lee Waters: I couldn't agree more, Llywydd. There are, indeed, too many Tories and we shall make sure there are fewer at the next election—[Laughter.] But, seriously, to answer the point of the Member's question, which I thank him for, how we tackle the private sector homes is clearly a challenge for us all. I did note in the Chancellor's budget he did announce a reduction in VAT for some solar...
Lee Waters: Well, I would like to welcome Altaf Hussain to the Labour benches—[Laughter.] There is much joy in heaven for every sinner that repents.
Lee Waters: Well, I'd like to echo what Mike Hedges said about Swansea Council. I think it's an excellent example of a partnership between a Labour-run local authority and a Welsh Labour Government. They themselves have invested some £60 million this financial year in warmer, more energy efficient homes, creating some 25 new low-carbon homes, as well as a programme of energy efficiency for existing...
Lee Waters: Thank you. We have introduced new build standards for social homes, which banish the use of fossil fuels, with ambitions for private developers to adopt these requirements by 2025. We also continue to invest in the optimised retrofit programme, exploring the most effective and efficient ways of decarbonising existing social housing stock.
Lee Waters: Well, the funding that was made available after the floods amounted to some £9 million and around half of that has gone to coal tip safety in Tylorstown. We've spent some £20 million on that. We're facing a bill of in excess of £500 million. We've committed £44.4 million over the next three years. The UK Government has refused to give any further money, and both the Secretary of State for...
Lee Waters: Thank you, yes, and I completely agree that there is a role here for the UK Government. This is a legacy of Britain's industrial past. The tips were accumulated before power was devolved to Wales and the UK Government must play its role in meeting that bill. And I think there is consensus in this Chamber, certainly on non-Conservative benches, that that's the case. As the Member rightly says,...
Lee Waters: Thank you. I'd refer the Member to the oral statement made yesterday, and, of course, we're debating this this afternoon. As we made clear, inspections of higher rated tips have recently completed and we committed £44.4 million for maintenance works over the next three years.
Lee Waters: We are working with local authorities to review and strengthen the approach to assessing local housing need through local housing market assessments. A £50.41 million social housing grant has been allocated for north Wales in 2021-22 to provide more homes for rent in the social sector.
Lee Waters: To kick-start decarbonisation of Wales’s 1.4 million homes, I am investing £150 million in the optimised retrofit programme over the next three years to learn how to decarbonise social homes efficiently and effectively. What we learn from social housing will amplify and accelerate efforts to reduce carbon emissions for all homes.
Lee Waters: Bringing our metro programmes to life is ambitious and complex. Significant construction work is already under way on the south Wales metro through the £738 million core Valleys lines transformation, and the Swansea bay & west Wales metro is spearheading pilots on hydrogen powered busses and integrated ticketing.
Lee Waters: Following the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s agreement to the quashing of the previous decision, the council must prepare a new report on the application. I will consider whether to call in the application when we receive the new report from the council.
Lee Waters: Well, with respect to Alun Davies, it's not just a case of having Senedd time, is it? It's about having the capacity within the Government to take a whole Bill through, and those are different things. So, I respectfully disagree with him about the pragmatic judgments that we have faced. And I just would stress to Members that this is primary legislation. The substance of the enactment will be...
Lee Waters: I think I understand the full force of his argument, Llywydd, so I'd rather—. Well, let him be brief and let me hear the blast of his argument one more time. [Laughter.]
Lee Waters: Diolch. And thank you for all the contributions. I must say, Llywydd, this is the second time today I've been told off by Janet Finch-Saunders for not paying enough attention to Twitter, but I should inform Members that I'm having a little break from Twitter, which, clearly, some of my colleagues welcome, and I can assure you that the Government press office are delighted by. [Laughter.] So,...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Seventy-two people died in the Grenfell Tower fire. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom for 30 years, and it exposed serious failings in the regulatory systems around building safety. Dame Judith Hackitt's review has sought to address these failings, and the recommendations of her report fell into two categories: the design and construction of...
Lee Waters: Formally.
Lee Waters: Thank you to Buffy Williams, and I recognise that the leadership role she's played in her own community in responding both to the floods and to the worry about the moving tip has been extraordinarily helpful. I hope her constituents are now reassured that the Tylorstown tip is having weekly inspections. So, this is being kept under very close eye, and the signs are very encouraging that the...
Lee Waters: Well, I'd like to echo Vikki's comments about the responsibilities of the UK Government, and this is not a party point. This has been a long-running legacy over generations where the UK as a whole benefited from the wealth of the communities across Wales, and we're now dealing with the legacy of that, literally the spoil waste of it. Vikki talked about the levelling-up agenda, and, of course,...
Lee Waters: Well, thank you very much for that.
