Lee Waters: I think, yes, absolutely, and to apologise for not directly answering every part of her first question, let me address it now. We will absolutely be looking at air quality and what to do in situations where there is a real problem with air quality. Now, at the moment, the often default response to that is to build a bypass, and simply going on building bypasses not only diverts funding away...
Lee Waters: Well, I think all businesses need to have an effective integrated transport system, and that includes sustainable transport as well as road transport. We've been very clear that this roads review is not saying we're never going to build any roads again. It is saying that the challenge that all of us face, businesses especially, of an unstable environment and an unstable economy from the...
Lee Waters: Well, I always look forward to receiving letters from Huw Irranca-Davies and this one will be no exception. [Laughter.] I agree with him it's a very important Bill, and it's one we're very keen to proceed with as soon as we possibly can. He alludes to the fact that there is a tension between the available time we have dealing with coronavirus regulations and Brexit regulations, and our...
Lee Waters: Thank you. There's no doubt that decarbonising our bus stock is a huge challenge for us at the pace at which we need to do it in order to meet our net-zero emissions targets. I recently saw and got to sit behind the wheel of, in fact—a childhood dream come true—one of the new Newport electric buses. It's an incredibly impressive piece of kit—significantly more expensive than its petrol...
Lee Waters: Thank you. Our clean air plan sets out ambitious measures to improve air quality. This includes implementation of new and cleaner technologies across a range of sectors. We're also committed to enhancing our air quality monitoring network and are considering new and emerging technologies as part of this work.
Lee Waters: Drwyddi draw, roedd cyfradd ailgylchu trefol Cymru yn 2019-20 yn uwch na’r targed o 64 y cant. O ran yr awdurdodau lleol sy’n methu’r targed ailgylchu, cynhelir proses i ddeall y rhesymau pam a chynllunio sut i daro’r targed yn y blynyddoedd wedi hynny. Bydd hynny’n sail i’r penderfyniad a ddylid codi dirwy neu beidio.
Lee Waters: Our clean air plan and plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations set out ambitious cross-Government actions being delivered to address air pollution. We are working with Caerphilly County Borough Council to deliver compliance with nitrogen dioxide limits at A472 Hafodyrynys, alongside developing our own measures to ensure compliance at M4 Newport.
Lee Waters: The Welsh Government published 'Future Wales: the national plan 2040' in February 2021. This identifies 10 pre-assessed areas for wind energy developments of national significance. Detailed assessments supporting 'Future Wales' including the integrated sustainability appraisal, a habitats regulations assessment and an assessment of on-shore wind and solar energy potential in Wales have been...
Lee Waters: Thank you. As I said when discussing transport, we need to make the right thing to do the easy thing to do, and I think that applies right across the behaviour change challenges for tackling climate change. I think the hedges and edges concept, which was brought to my attention by the Woodland Trust, who have done some really good work on this, is a really important one, because there is a...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much. I completely agree with all the points that she made. I think the pandemic has shown us the connection to nature that taking an interest in your garden and planting trees can have, and I've certainly seen it in the case of my own garden. If we are going to meet the challenge of climate change, as we've discussed in this Chamber in recent weeks, we need to significantly...
Lee Waters: Thank you for that constructive intervention, and I've called Darren Millar many things in my time, but never a major tree enthusiast. So, that's one to add to the list. I think he rightly points that there are policy tensions and sometimes absurd and unintended consequences, and he gives a very good example there. So, I would be very happy to look at that, because I think it is a problem.
Lee Waters: Perhaps I can give Buffy Williams points for trying to turn this into a discussion of the situation of flooding in Pentre. I'm afraid that's not something we explicitly looked at. I'd be happy to write on an update of how NRW are getting on with that review. But I would say what this exercise has highlighted is the important role of tree planting in alleviating and preventing flooding, and...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much, and that's an inspired idea of, 'Plant a tree in 2023 and another in 2024'. I will shamelessly take that off you, I think, Mike Hedges—I think that's brilliant. I will take that away and work up something. Thank you very, very much; that's an excellent suggestion. In terms of a forestry commission-type body, perhaps I was too coded in my response, but I did say looking...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much for that series of comments and questions. In terms of your last point, on the threat to urban trees, I'd said very clearly at the very beginning that we need to protect the trees that we have. Now, that doesn't mean that in every circumstance every tree can be preserved. One of the points that struck me during this exercise is that we have lost our relationship with our...
Lee Waters: I'm answering your questions as patiently as I can and going through one at a time. I could have been far more brutal in my response, frankly, Janet Finch-Saunders. I'm trying to be kind to you, but you are making it hard. As opposed to excluding the unions, we've not excluded the unions. This was a very sharply focused taskforce. This was not a representative body with all the stakeholders....
Lee Waters: Thank you very much. It's always difficult, I know, for opposition spokespeople who have to write a contribution in advance of a Minister setting out what's happening, and it's a shame that much of what she accused me of had been addressed in my statement. She does remind me a little bit of the old saying that some people refuse to take 'yes' for an answer. You criticised me for not setting a...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr. Let me begin by saying that trees are a good thing. We must protect the trees that we have, and plant 86 million more of them in Wales by the end of this decade, if we are to tackle the climate emergency. We need a step change in woodland creation, and a transformation in the way Welsh wood is used across our economy. Over the past month, I have led an intensive deep-dive...
Lee Waters: 'is a serious wake-up call for Wales', and I was also encouraged when I heard her say a week ago that 'rhetoric must now be met with bold and decisive action' when she called for us to declare a nature emergency. I've been reading about this thing called cognitive dissonance, which is a psychological concept where two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, and...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd, and I thank Members for their contributions. I was particularly pleased to hear Janet Finch-Saunders say at the conclusion there that, in the sixth Senedd, it's time for us to reset the discussion, and I was very encouraged two weeks ago when I heard Janet Finch-Saunders say that the publication of the Climate Change Committee report
Lee Waters: To respond to some of the comments in the many excellent contributions, I was pleased to see so many Members highlight the role that the Fflecsi demand-responsive bus service has played, and is playing in the Conwy Valley as Janet Finch-Saunders mentioned; Carolyn Thomas similarly talked of its potential, as did Vikki Howells as a way of bringing new passengers into buses and exploring where...
