Lee Waters: Thank you for those remarks. I completely agree that more action is needed and I believe I set that out, and I agree that we need to discuss this in far more detail. I don't think today is the time to do that. I think Janet Finch-Saunders set out a series of fair and reasonable challenges and, as she said, rhetoric must be matched by bold and decisive action. And I would say to her, what's...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Today, the Climate Change Committee published its third UK climate risk independent assessment. It makes for difficult reading. It sets out 61 risks and opportunities from climate change to Wales, including to business infrastructure, housing, the natural environment and health. Twenty-six of the 61 risks have increased in severity over the last five years. We can see...
Lee Waters: The search for consensus goes on, I would say. The issues around the M4 have been well rehearsed and we take different views on that. The way to reduce harmful pollution from cars is to have fewer cars, not to make the cars go faster. I think it's the emphasis on modal shift that we want to see, rather than creating additional roads, which, in turn, as we know through the induced demand...
Lee Waters: Thank you for that important challenge. We are committed to introducing a piece of legislation. Clearly, the programme for government covers the whole of this Senedd term, and there is much legislation that we want to introduce. So, it's going to take time for all the pieces of legislation to be introduced. Clearly, air quality is an urgent challenge and we can't wait simply for legislation...
Lee Waters: Oh, that's me again. The Government has made a commitment to a clean air Act for Wales. Officials are developing proposals for a clean air Bill in light of responses to the consultation on the White Paper published in January 2020, and the Government will shortly announce our legislative programme.
Lee Waters: I agree that this is a deeply worrying trend. The Welsh Government's plan is set out in our nature recovery action plan for managing biodiversity loss. We have created the nature networks fund with the National Lottery and we've invested close to £10 million in that. That is already showing its results in communities right across Wales. In the north in particular, Natural Resources Wales is...
Lee Waters: Can I just at the outset make it clear that I want to congratulate everybody on getting re-elected? I'm very glad to see everybody, and I thank them for their question. Perhaps, with that pro forma, I can not say that every time we get up.
Lee Waters: I think you're absolutely right to highlight the fresh evidence again in the report today about the impact of rising sea levels caused directly by man-made global warming. Much of the consequences of that are baked in and we're going to have to deal with it, while we simultaneously try and make sure the problem is not exacerbated. The fact that most of our large settlements are based on along...
Lee Waters: The advice and report issued today on the risks and opportunities of climate change underline the importance of our work to make every part of Wales, including the north, more climate resilient.
Lee Waters: Thank you very much, and that contribution just underlines I think how much we will miss the reasoned and reasonable tone of Nick Ramsay's contributions from the Conservative benches, and I wish him well. Just to address his points: the rural challenge is a very real one, but it is an absolutely achievable one. So, as I've said, we've commissioned a piece of work, which we'll happily publish,...
Lee Waters: Can I first of all pay a very sincere tribute to Jenny Rathbone for the campaigning she's done on this agenda throughout her entire time as a Member of the Senedd? She has been ahead of the pack as a persistent advocate for the need to shift to sustainable transport, and so I am pleased that she is here to welcome this report as a realisation of many of the themes that she's been calling for...
Lee Waters: You were doing so well there. Up until the last point, I was encouraged. Whenever I hear David Rowlands welcome laudable aims, I'm waiting for a big 'but', and we got the 'but' at the end with his campaign against our effort to try and save children's lives from being killed unnecessarily on the road. Certainly, the evidence that came out of our own review on 20 mph default urban speed limits...
Lee Waters: To take those questions in reverse order, we have provided Newport Bus with a £2 million loan to buy a fleet of electric buses for the city to replace their ageing fleet, which I think is very welcome. But clearly, there is a big challenge for the whole industry to convert to electric buses over the period of this document, and that is a significant challenge for them. We are looking to try...
Lee Waters: Thank you. A good set of challenging questions there. We are delighted that we're able to provide the £70 million to accelerate the delivery of the Ebbw Vale lines, that services at last can go to Newport as well as to Cardiff, and this, of course, was one of the key recommendations of the Burns report. We are very keen that the Burns report is not a report that sits on a shelf, that there...
Lee Waters: Dirprwy Lywydd, a number of points to address there, and obviously I'm conscious this is the penultimate session of the Senedd before the election, and Russell George is in election mode, and I obviously factor that into my response. It's a different Russell George who chairs with great consensus the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, and the same Russell George who signed up to a...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Llywydd. On 19 March, I was proud to publish the Welsh Government's new Wales transport strategy. It sets what we consider to be a bold new vision for transport in Wales over the next two decades. And the context for the document is very clear: we are in the midst of a climate crisis, and it is time—indeed, it is urgent—that we turn the broad consensus that now exists for action...
Lee Waters: I'm pleased to say that the report's recommendations were broadly in line with the plans that we are already developing within Government, and we are working on a set of recommendations and a report that will be available—a strategy—for the next Government in September or October. And it is a complex piece of work to think through all of the different elements to it. Today, we have...
Lee Waters: Yes, thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I must thank the committee for their considered report and the way that they conducted the inquiry and everybody who has made a contribution to the debate this afternoon. As Mike Hedges has put it, what COVID has done has supercharged what was already happening. And we don't want to return by default, simply because we haven't put in place an...
Lee Waters: Yes, I completely agree. I think digital is a really important part of how we've regenerated town centres and how we create a data-based policy approach. So, there's already been support for the town and enabling towns. For example, Rhymney town centre has had a £30,000 grant to enable Caerphilly, to enable them, to introduce free Wi-Fi provision in the town centre. We're doing this now...
Lee Waters: Three million pounds of funding has been made available to towns throughout Wales following a study by the Centre For Towns. Merthyr Tydfil has been awarded £834,549 to provide a grant scheme for businesses, which will support with enhancements both internally and externally to aid business trading in response to the pandemic.
