Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 14 September 2016.
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I’m sure, like me, you are a great supporter of rural businesses. However, there is a lot of tension between some of the very large rural businesses, a number of which I have written to you about in the past, and the impact they have and, indeed, I would go so far as to say, the blight effect that they have on local residents in the areas that they are next to. I’ve raised these as matters with both local authorities and with Natural Resources Wales to ensure that these rural businesses actually behave within the law, within the guidance, and try to mitigate the effect of their business upon their communities. Both Natural Resources Wales and the local councils have come back to me again and again and again and said they do not have the statutory powers to take such actions. Cabinet Secretary, I wonder if you would please review what statutory powers these organisations have so that they are able to undertake comprehensive and fair enforcement, not to stifle business, because none of us want to see that, but to ensure that the tension between a business and the local community that it operates in is fair and equal for all.