Lee Waters: But the bit I've been thinking about since taking over the portfolio is, as well as attracting businesses into Blaenau Gwent, what can we do to support the businesses already in Blaenau Gwent? Because this is one of the most challenged communities we have in our country, and we owe it a moral debt, in my view, to address those challenges and to support those communities, not just attracting...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd, and can I echo Mark Reckless's birthday wishes for Alun Davies? It's also my birthday today and it's also Jenny Rathbone's birthday today. It's quite the troika of Assembly Members. I was trying to think what was the common denominator between the three of us, having our birthdays as Aquarians on 12 February, and the only thing I could think of, because we...
Lee Waters: In terms of the point on division with the Valleys, I think Ken Skates, the Minister for economy, has made the point in his letter to Cardiff council, which has been released, that this has to be done on a regional basis. As I've just said, I think for a number of reasons that that will be the case. On the point about bus services, I am a big supporter of sustainable transport. We have a...
Lee Waters: I don't take the proposals Cardiff have brought forward as the final word on the matter. I think they're the beginning of a conversation.
Lee Waters: I haven't finished the point, but if I have time, I'm happy to. They have said—. Sorry, Deputy Presiding Officer, are you trying to give me some guidance?
Lee Waters: Excellent.
Lee Waters: And we're all going home. Excellent. Let me just briefly respond to Hefin's point before asking Alun to come in. We're at the beginning of a conversation. They are not going to come in for four years. There are pragmatic reasons for doing this in the way they've done, because the entry points into the city are fewer, and you can put the infrastructure to capture the number plates, whereas if...
Lee Waters: Absolutely. And, as I said, we are keeping strategic hubs as a spatial planning tool. With the example of Caerphilly, a lot of work has gone on and investment in the Caerphilly master plan that simply would not have existed had the strategic hubs concept not been there. [Interruption.] I'm happy to give way.
Lee Waters: Yes, and there we come again to the problem. So, what do we do about this? I'll just touch on this as a final main point: the public services boards and the role that they have, and how the foundational economy concept fit in. I should properly acknowledge that the foundational economy was a movement of supporters that Hefin David, Vikki Howells, Jeremy Miles and Jenny Rathbone on our...
Lee Waters: I agree with that and, of course, there was a methodology behind the selection.
Lee Waters: So, this was not a back-of-a-fag-packet exercise; there was a lot of work that went into coming up with them. I think Alun Davies has hit upon the nub of the problem with the strategic hubs as I've seen them, which also applies to the anchor towns. It's not the concept that's wrong; community parochialism is the challenge, because how many do you decide upon? When I took over this brief I...
Lee Waters: I'm happy to take an intervention.
Lee Waters: Yes, thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Hefin David's opening reminded me of the remarks said of A. J. Cook, the trade unionist—that he didn't know what he was going to say until he started to say it; he didn't know what he was saying while he was saying it, and he couldn't remember what he said after he finished saying it. I'll go in the spirit that he has implored me to, and...
Lee Waters: You said Turkey was coming into the EU.
Lee Waters: I think we shouldn't knock local authorities here because they are in a very difficult position. The problem at heart is the number of cars many of us now own. And the streets simply were not designed to cater for the volume of vehicles that are trying to squeeze into a street that was designed for the horse and cart. So, it's not simply a case of providing extra land for more car parking,...
Lee Waters: I thank David Melding for that. As well as commending Living Streets for their research, I would have hoped that he would have commended the Welsh Government for taking action in this area. We are working closely with Living Streets. As I say, he's highlighted some of the complexities that are involved in introducing a ban, and we are going to work through those. Because the current...
Lee Waters: Thank you. I think all of us have fresh experience of walking miles around our constituencies in recent months, and we'll have seen for ourselves that this is a problem in a variety of communities. And Hefin David is absolutely right: in some, especially the newer estates, households, especially if they have more than one car, often don't really have much alternative other than parking on the...
Lee Waters: Yes. We have created a special taskforce group to investigate the issues around pavement parking and decide on how best to implement a solution to this problem. The group is due to report on its findings in June of this year.
Lee Waters: Thank you very much. Joyce Watson is absolutely right to point out the European dimension to this, because the £200 million that we invested in Superfast Cymru was a combination of UK Government funding, European funding, and Welsh Government funding. So there was a contribution from the UK Government, but it took the Welsh Government's leadership to put that package together, and deploy...
Lee Waters: Well, thank you very much, and I have sympathy with the people of Mynachlog-ddu, because, clearly, this is a vital piece of connectivity we now all rely upon. But I repeat again to the Member that this is not a devolved matter. The UK Government has the lead responsibility for connecting people through telecommunications policies, and this is an area where they should be taking the lead, and...
