Llyr Gruffydd: When, First Minister, will we see the Welsh Government introducing new rules that will make it a requirement to have planning consent to turn a residential home into a holiday home?
Llyr Gruffydd: May I thank the Minister for her statement this afternoon? I've expressed a view on 'A Low Carbon Wales', the document published, of course, and the element of frustration I feel that what that is is a collection of announcements that have previously been made to a great extent. And since then, we have declared a climate emergency, and it's positive that the Minister has asked her officials...
Llyr Gruffydd: Back in October, one of your Ministers wrote to a man who had lost his mother, following her stay on the Hergest mental health ward in Bangor. The Minister for Health and Social Services said that he expected the response to the inquiry from the health board, and I quote, to be:
Llyr Gruffydd: 'a transparent and thorough investigation process'.
Llyr Gruffydd: Now, in the spirit of your response to my initial question, that inquiry is ongoing, but the family are concerned that the health board is refusing to be open and transparent in answering questions. The board, for example, is accused of hiding behind section 42 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which allows them to refuse to share information if they have received legal advice to see...
Llyr Gruffydd: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on transparency within Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in dealing with enquiries from the public? OAQ54134
Llyr Gruffydd: The point I was making, of course, is we’re not talking about the risks, we’re not talking about a climate problem here; we’re talking about a climate crisis or emergency, and that means a response, yes, but a swift response and urgent action. The intergovernmental panel of the United Nations on climate change has said that we have but 12 years to reach our aims, and therefore we do...
Llyr Gruffydd: I haven't read the article, but if you ask the people that I think would have been commenting on that, the point is that the rewilding agenda is being driven by outside forces and isn't a process that's rooted in the local community and is growing from the bottom up. Surely, you'd be the last person who would want to see multimillionaires telling local people in west Wales what to do. It's...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much. I will start just by reminding Members of some statistics and facts. Temperature on average on a global level has increased every decade over the past 50 years, and the 10 warmest years on record have been in the last 22 years, so that tells us something. It is estimated that the climate crisis is already killing 300,000 per annum, and we know that scientists are of the...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that response, because that’s the theory, but I think the practice is slightly different, because as the First Minister made clear in relation to his decision on the M4 that the weighting that he has given to environmental considerations is different to the weighting given to those considerations by the Planning Inspectorate, I think that does highlight an inconsistency, and...
Llyr Gruffydd: Okay. Well, we'll await any specific changes. I will suggest one thing to you. I remember when the previous Government was eager to oppose fracking in Wales. The Government at that time had no powers in rejecting it specifically, but the planning system was used, you may recall, as a means of creating some sort of moratorium. Now, some of us disagreed as to whether it was really a...
Llyr Gruffydd: Fine, and you're quite right to say that the whole purpose of declaring a climate emergency is to see transformational change, if truth be told. And it is quite some time since you made that declaration as a Government—it's been some weeks now. You've made some written statements and a few oral references to that declaration, but we haven't seen anything transformational as of yet in terms...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you, Llywydd. Minister, you will be aware that Plaid Cymru has been campaigning diligently against the M4 black route and, of course, we welcomed the decision when it came not to proceed with that specific proposal. We believe that spending at least £1.5 billion of capital on generating more traffic would be unwise. But, as that money is now not going to be spent for that purpose, can...
Llyr Gruffydd: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the weight given to environmental considerations in the planning system? OAQ54075
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you. It is, of course, clean air week, and I have to say, Minister, that I had expected a statement or a significant announcement from you today, but all we’ve had, really, is echoing your commitment to a clean air Act for Wales, no further detail on the content of such an Act, and very little detail on the timetabling for bringing forward such legislation. So, what progress are you...
Llyr Gruffydd: I'm sure that you will share my concern, having read the report by the auditor general published recently on planning authorities in Wales, where it highlighted that planning services were given too few resources and were underperforming. It stated in the report that all of the planning services in Wales had seen their budgets halved over the past 10 years, taking into account inflation. Now,...
Llyr Gruffydd: I would invite the First Minister, the next time he’s in the Ruthin area, to drive past Ysgol Pentrecelyn, which has been painting its own mural in the school with ‘Cofiwch Dryweryn’ on it as part of their work on Welsh history within the school. I agree with the need, of course, to promote more opportunities to learn about Welsh history and indeed local history. But the frustration,...
Llyr Gruffydd: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the future of the planning system in Wales? OAQ54076
Llyr Gruffydd: Well, thank you for your answer. I was quite struck by the letter that you shared with Assembly Members—the letter that you sent to David Lidington on 22 May—where you highlight under-investment in Welsh rail infrastructure. You say in the letter that there is a history of sustained and chronic under-investment in the Welsh network when compared with England, based on an approach that...
Llyr Gruffydd: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on public spending on the rail network in Wales? OAQ54010
