9. 8. Short Debate: The Safety, Storage and Disposal of Biomass and Contaminated Wood Products by South Wales Wood Recycling

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:14 pm on 5 October 2016.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 6:14, 5 October 2016

Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd, and thank you, Huw, for bringing this short debate forward today. Obviously, we’ve been having parallel conversations with the individual bodies you mentioned, so I won’t repeat anything you’ve said except to encourage the Cabinet Secretary to consider some of the suggestions that Huw Irranca-Davies put forward. One of the points that was put to me is that some of these might have been accommodated in the recent Planning (Wales) Act 2015, and I view that as something of a missed opportunity, but I appreciate you weren’t the lead Cabinet Secretary on that.

Two specific points; sorry, three—when past breaches of regulation fall short of being criminal, is there a case to be made there that that should be able to be taken into account by planning officers when considering whether to grant planning permission for different sites? At the moment, the bar on that is particularly high. Secondly—the perverse incentive of local authorities paying for waste wood to be taken as part of their recycling programme, rather than paying on distribution of the chipped wood.

Thirdly, I wonder if you can give us any guidance at the moment on how those whose health is affected by the poisons that are carried on the wind from such fires are to be compensated, because it’s not clear at the moment whether we’re talking about class actions or whether individuals might, under any particular scheme, be able to make a claim for proven, through causation, ill health? Thank you.