Julie James: Yes, so, I write to planning authorities all the time reinforcing various parts of ‘Planning Policy Wales’. We also have a planning officers forum and I’m very shortly to meet—I’m afraid I just can’t remember off the top of my head when—with the new cabinet members who are responsible for planning right across local government, as all authorities have now formed their new...
Julie James: Thank you, Darren. Placemaking principles underpin national planning policy. They require the provision of adequate infrastructure to support housing development and the promotion of quality places. Local planning authorities must take a strategic approach to the provision of infrastructure when planning for new housing, and the Government offers ongoing support to achieve this.
Julie James: Yes. The very short answer to that is 'yes'. It's very much part of the optimised retrofit programme and the innovative housing programme. What those programmes do is they take a whole series of products and we build housing—new housing for the IHP and retrofitted housing for the ORP programme—and then we test out what the product has claimed against what it actually performs like. As...
Julie James: So, obviously, there's a complex series of calculations around carbon and carbon sequestration for a variety of different products. I can't pretend to be an expert in that, but we have a number of people advising us, including on the deep-dive panels and so on, who are. One of the things that we want to do is come, especially for soil, to an agreement with farmers for how they measure carbon...
Julie James: I'm very much on board with that, Jenny. We have a national plan system in Wales—a planned system that allows us to have a robust framework for ensuring agricultural land is protected for productive use through 'Planning Policy Wales' and 'Future Wales: the national plan 2040'. 'Planning Policy Wales' seeks to ensure the best use is made for land. For example, it has a clear preference for...
Julie James: Thank you, Jenny. To meet our net-zero ambitions will require land use change. The majority of land in Wales is used for agriculture. The sustainable farming scheme will incentivise farmers to make best use of their land to deliver economic, social and environmental outcomes through a land sharing approach.
Julie James: We already do that. It's part of the curriculum, apart from anything else. We of course encourage schools to encourage community use. I've had not only conversations but visits with my colleague Jeremy Miles to schools doing just that. We're very keen to get schools on board with that project, so if you know of any who aren't yet doing it who would like to, then we'd be very pleased to help.
Julie James: I completely agree, Jayne; the pandemic certainly highlighted the need for people to have an outside space that was usable and actually connect back to nature, which is good for not just physical health but also very good for mental health, of course. We have Welsh Government guidance available that provides community groups with the knowledge and tools to take ownership of green...
Julie James: Our allotment support grant is now in its second year and will allocate £750,000 across all of Wales's local authorities to help improve and increase allotment provision. In addition to this dedicated fund, a range of other programmes, such as Local Places for Nature, also help support the development of allotments.
Julie James: Thank you. I understand you've raised concerns with Transport for Wales regarding the poor performance of trains in your constituency, and I think you've had a response from them. There have been occasions where TfW have had to make last-minute cancellations, and incidents where we needed to operate rail replacement services to ensure there are alternative journey options. Some 68 per cent of...
Julie James: Our north Wales metro programme will transform rail, bus and active travel services across north Wales. The metros offer some of the best opportunities to meet our target of 45 per cent of journeys being made by public transport or active travel by 2040, helping reduce road congestion, carbon emissions and air pollution.
Julie James: Yes, certainly, Delyth. Procurement is actually in Rebecca Evans's portfolio, but obviously I work very, very closely with Rebecca. She has recently announced a number of research issues into procurement, one of which is absolutely making sure that Wales does not use up more of the world's resources than is our fair share. Part of that is to make sure, when buying products or having supply...
Julie James: Diolch, Delyth. I completely agree; a digital strategy is absolutely essential to doing that. You're absolutely right; we are committed to having at least 30 per cent of people working from home or near home—so, much less commuting time and hopefully much less polluting commuting type. In order to do that, of course, we have to provide them with facilities to be able to do that, both...
Julie James: So, Janet, again, once more, how many times have I got to say the same thing? We are absolutely committed to putting an environmental protection body in place. The interim environmental protection plan is working; it's actually highlighting how many people want their issues looked at, and in a much shorter timescale than was ever possible before. As you well know, we are working with the deep...
Julie James: So, once again, it's very fine words and absolutely no action from you. So, we have done a number of things already on the clean air (Wales) Bill, which we'll introduce in this Senedd term. It's one of a number of actions set out in the clean air plan for Wales, 'Healthy Air, Healthy Wales', which we are taking to improve air quality. The action taken includes, of course, the Welsh transport...
Julie James: Well, I think that was five questions, actually. [Laughter.]
Julie James: Well, which one would you like me to answer, Janet?
Julie James: Okay, that's very straightforward. I'm pleased to say that we published on 7 June the engagement plan, which will help us with the information that we need in order to bring forward the clean air Act.
Julie James: So, Gilestone Farm, as I know the Member knows perfectly well, has been bought as part of the economic development portfolio attempt to secure the future of the Green Man festival, one of the only independent festivals left in Europe. And it's nothing to do with NRW or tree creation. Of course, I cannot promise not to plant a single tree on the land of Gilestone Farm—that would be...
Julie James: So, that's quite a complicated set of issues, Rhun, although I appreciate the sentiment and agree with it. So, just on the criticism of land purchased by NRW, we do purchase small amounts of land across Wales, and have done for very many years, as substitute planting land, particularly where we have windfarm siting on the Welsh woodland estate, and so the acreage of trees that comes down for...
