Lesley Griffiths: I’ve had those discussions with the farmers myself, certainly over the summer at the agricultural shows I visited, and with individual farmers, and we are working very hard to ensure that funding gets to them as quickly as possible.
Lesley Griffiths: Certainly, we’re looking at which windows we can open. I want to get as many windows open as soon as possible to ensure we draw down as much funding as possible.
Lesley Griffiths: I do appreciate that there could be an increased cost to certain parts of the farming community. They will have to be taken into account when we look at the full impact assessment that would accompany any new regulations. And I think we have to look at any increased costs that have to be weighed against the benefits to the environment.
Lesley Griffiths: The member is correct—we are obviously out to consultation at the moment. In fact, just last Monday, 10 October, my officials met with representatives of the National Farmers Union in Pembrokeshire to discuss this, along with local farmers also from Pembrokeshire, and I have to say I’ve been told it was a very positive meeting. I think farmers are very keen to consider how best to stop...
Lesley Griffiths: Well, I wasn’t being particularly specific. What I think I was saying was that when we have a look, and when we unpick—I think I mentioned that there are 5,000 pieces of legislation within my portfolio in relation to agriculture and fisheries—when we unpick them and we are looking at Welsh specific going forward, it could be that we would strengthen some of the legislation or regulations.
Lesley Griffiths: Yes, I’ve had discussions with the tidal lagoon company, and one of the advantages they referred to, when talking about the possible tidal lagoon around the Colwyn Bay area, was the fact that it would offer resilience against flooding. So, again, those discussions are ongoing.
Lesley Griffiths: Well, we don’t provide those types of grants to individual homeowners; rather, we focus on funding much larger schemes to benefit groups of properties or communities. We do support property-level resilience, when brought forward, as an appropriate solution by local authorities or by Natural Resources Wales, and we provide grant funding for that purpose. I think what we’re doing is...
Lesley Griffiths: Those discussions, you’ll appreciate, four months into this term of Government, are at very early stages, so I can’t give you a date when it will be available. I’ve started to have discussions with my Cabinet colleagues around this. I suppose early thinking is looking at perhaps small pieces of equipment, for instance, through capital grants, but, as I say, it is very early days.
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. As with many parts of Wales, flood risk in Clwyd West comes from rivers, sea and surface water. To reduce this risk, Clwyd West has benefited from more than £20 million of investment over the past five years, including work at Colwyn Bay, Ruthin and Kinmel Bay.
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you, and I’m very pleased you took up the farming union’s invitations to visit farms in your constituency. Welsh Government officials have regular and very productive engagement with farming stakeholders on Glastir, and that includes, obviously, the farming unions. European Commission rules require agri-environment support to pay for activities that exceed usual farming practice, so...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you. The rural development programme is the main mechanism for supporting Wales’s farmers, including smaller upland holdings and marginal farms, such as those in the Cynon Valley, through agri-environment and investment schemes where they are eligible and qualify. Support is also available through Glastir and Farming Connect.
Lesley Griffiths: I thank Simon Thomas for his questions. I’ve already said that I think we cannot speculate as to the cause of it. Once the incident has been concluded, which I hope will be very soon, that’s the time, then, for NRW and HSE to carry out a full investigation. I would like to assure Members that I did ask NRW if, at the current time, they felt they had additional resources to manage this...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I thank Angela Burns for those comments and certainly the ones around the silver command team. You’re absolutely right: it was very good to see just how well NRW did co-ordinate that multi-agency response and silver command has met on a daily basis and I’ve received an update from them. I’m very happy to talk to Ken Skates’s officials in his absence....
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you, Joyce Watson, for those questions. I’m very pleased you have met with Valero and I should have said that both Valero and NRW are very happy to meet any Assembly Member to discuss this matter. You’re quite right, we should also take the opportunity to thank the emergency services for their attendance. In relation to the A48, I did say I do accept there will be inconvenience, but...
Lesley Griffiths: Diolch, Adam Price, for those questions. In relation to the timeline, I can inform Members that, last Tuesday—so, 4 October—the first phone call received by NRW from Valero was at 10:46 when Valero said that they were self-reporting damage to a kerosene pipeline and where the location was. The quantity of discharge at that time was unknown, and they had approved contractors being—. They...
Lesley Griffiths: Diolch, Lywydd. As Members will be aware, on 4 October, Natural Resources Wales were notified of a kerosene spill from the pipeline adjacent to the A48 near Nantycaws. In the immediate response to the incident, the fire and rescue service deployed emergency oil spill containment booms on the Nant Pibwr and Natural Resources Wales established a multi-agency co-ordination centre. Specialist...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank Huw Irranca-Davies for bringing this short debate forward and Caroline Jones and Suzy Davies for their contributions. The way that society manages waste has changed radically over the last 20 years, and this has had implications for people, the environment and regulation. As waste has been diverted away from landfill and up the waste...
Lesley Griffiths: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’m pleased to respond to this debate on behalf of the Government. As a Government, we’ve been absolutely clear about our commitment to provide support to deliver successful and sustainable rural communities. Our rural development programme supports a broad range of individuals, businesses, organisations and communities, including farming families...
Lesley Griffiths: Formally.
Lesley Griffiths: In relation to the vaccination, I was going to say, in response to something that Neil Hamilton said, just because we don’t have a vaccine supply, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have a policy—of course we have a policy and the majority of that, rightly so, is around cattle control measures. I don’t know what crystal ball Neil Hamilton has, but he came up with the date of 2023 and...
