Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This debate is about how we can deliver vital improvements to people's quality of life and to their well-being. I want to highlight the links between multiple local environment issues that combine to make places depressing and unhealthy. These issues can also have an impact on community cohesion, investment prospects and access to services.

In the past, we've addressed poor waste management, litter, fly-tipping, graffiti, dog fouling, poor air quality, noise, local flooding, along with the need for green space and urban trees, and the need to better recycling as single issues. However, the connections between them all are obvious, and people in communities across Wales suffer from their combined effects. In some areas, such as the management of waste and recycling, we are making excellent progress. Wales leads the UK and is fourth in Europe in terms of recycling performance. This achievement follows effective engagement with the public and, for most people in Wales, recycling is now second nature. However, we need everyone to recycle, which means finding out how to influence the people who currently don't. I've asked my officials to look more closely into the behavioural change aspects of tackling this and other local environmental problems.

I've heard the various calls to ban certain food or drinks containers, apply levies, or bring in a deposit-return system for drinks containers. I intend to look at this in the round as we review and update our waste strategy, ‘Towards Zero Waste’, as I do not want to apply piecemeal solutions. I've asked for a study on the potential for new legislation to extend producer responsibility in Wales, to make the producer of products and packaging more financially liable for the end-of-life management of the waste, including litter. On takeaway paper cups, we're exploring with the drinks industry what more can be done to recycle cups in Wales, including the provision of recycling bins and the potential for the cups to be redesigned.

We all recognise the benefits of clean streets, quiet green spaces, urban trees and clean air. However, in some communities, such conditions are a far cry from people's current experience. We know from our debate last June the scale of harm that can come from air pollution. We must tackle poor air quality from all possible angles, from national and local action plans and transport measures to urban design and tree planting. My officials are engaging with transport and health colleagues on the multiple benefits of active travel, in particular its contribution to reduction in air pollution and carbon emissions. Electric car developments and improved public transport are also important measures.

Our recent consultation on local air quality and noise management sought answers to important questions on how we can tackle these issues more effectively through such things as improved reporting arrangements, more integrated action and more collaborative and effective use of resources. I will issue a statement to Assembly Members on the outcome of the consultation before the end of March, explaining how we will be changing the local air quality and noise management system in Wales in light of the responses received.

Then there are the things that are in people's line of sight every day: dog fouling, littering, fly-tipping and the poor handling of waste, which destroy people’s pride in, and care for, the communities where they live. Some residents exist in a kind of paralysis, unable to see any point in trying to improve the place where they live, and often suffering adverse effects on their health. It is also clear these problems can lead to more antisocial behaviour and crime. I'm particularly keen to see the crime of fly-tipping tackled more efficiently across local authority boundaries, and we’re currently consulting on the introduction of fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping. People who live in a poor-quality environment are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression through staying in the relative safety of their homes to avoid dirty streets and anti-social behaviour. They’re also more likely to get insufficient exercise and suffer from health problems such as diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.

Children suffer, too, from a lack of clean, safe places to play outside. This is where access to green spaces and active travel routes are so important, and, of course, those too have to be kept free from litter and fly-tipping or people simply will not use them. Green spaces and trees are also important for tackling local flooding, poor air quality and noise. This is a good example of how the best and most cost-effective solutions to local environment issues are those that address more than one problem. My department’s single revenue grant to local authorities is specifically designed to encourage the delivery of such multiple benefits.

The effect of a poor environment quality on a local economy is clear. Infrastructure suffers and the general poor condition of a place deters investment. There are also costs associated with constant clean-up activities by local authorities, which are a drain on scarce funds. So, the need for prevention must be a driving force behind the action we take. It is increasingly clear that neither national nor local government can be effective without the involvement of individuals and communities.

We can of course look to strengthen legislative and regulatory measures and I’m always prepared to examine strong cases for doing so. However, as local authorities often remind us, legislation costs money to administer and enforce. Effective early prevention is always preferable to chasing people for fines they’re not always able to afford. Our new Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is legislation of a different kind, however, encouraging us to focus on prevention, to involve people in well-integrated measures and to collaborate across organisations as we work for long-term sustainable solutions.

Collaboration across all sectors will be essential to effective prevention, involving the third sector, landowners and local businesses, who have a vested interest in improving local environment conditions. Problems occur in both rural areas and urban areas and, in every place, the people who live and work there are vital to developing effective local solutions. I believe people are probably more strongly influenced by the opinion of their fellow citizens than they are by Government. We need to help caring citizens find a voice and a platform from which to influence in practical ways the behaviour of others in their areas.

A lady in north Wales who’s been an active anti-litter campaigner for many years recently wrote to me asking for points to be added to the driving licences of people who allow litter to be thrown from their cars. In my reply to her, I explained that we don’t have the powers in Wales to make that happen, although I will raise her idea with DEFRA and the UK Department for Transport. In her letter to me, this lady spoke very passionately about her litter-picking work with children and about the need for stronger measures to prevent the problem. Her words struck home with me very strongly. She said, ‘Can’t we work together and make it happen?’

We all know people like this lady in every community—willing and determined. If we can help them to join forces with Government, national and local, to tackle the problems blighting their lives, with the right help and encouragement, they can be an even stronger force for good in their communities.

Of course, litter isn’t all down to the behaviour of an anti-social group of people. It can also be a result of the careless handling of waste and recycling by residents or by those who collect and transport it. So, care and thoughtfulness are needed on the part of everyone.

So, Deputy Presiding Officer, I’m very keen to hear the constructive thoughts of all Members in the Chamber on any measures that will help build pride of place and empower people and organisations to bring about real improvements in 2017. Thank you.