As stated in the Chair’s foreword to our committee report:

‘The Cabinet Secretary’s vision of an independent expert body which can de-politicise contentious decisions that have far reaching consequences is compelling.... We hope our recommendations will provide a basis for the swift establishment of a Commission that—once strengthened by legislation—can ensure Wales develops the essential infrastructure we all rely on for a prosperous 21st century nation.’

As the Cabinet Secretary says in his response,

‘we have committed towards establishing a National Infrastructure Commission for Wales to provide independent and expert advice on strategic infrastructure needs and priorities’.

It is therefore regrettable that the Cabinet Secretary has chosen to reject the committee’s recommendation that the commission should be established as a non-statutory body but with a clear presumption that legislation will follow to move the commission to become a statutory independent body.

As our report states:

‘While the Committee believes that believes that ultimately the independence and credibility of the Commission will best be secured by it being placed on a statutory footing, there is no need to delay setting up the body waiting for legislation.’

But as the Civil Engineering Contractors Association told committee,

‘if it is part of Government, I really don’t think that we’ll get what we need from this. I mean that not as an industry, but as a nation’.

Evidence from Australian infrastructure bodies emphasised the importance of being established by legislation. Infrastructure Australia told us that legislation strengthening their role as an independent, transparent and expert advisory body has allowed them to operate more effectively and independently. Infrastructure Victoria told us that the reasons for setting up an independent body to advise on infrastructure applies not just to their particular circumstances, but across countries, increasing, they said, community confidence in processes and outcomes.

Although the Cabinet Secretary has already committed to a review of the status of the commission ahead of the next Assembly election, the committee concluded that, to have clout and credibility and to overcome the perceived lack of permanence of a non-statutory commission, it must be, and be seen to be, an independent body.

The Cabinet Secretary should be aware that local campaigns against proposed housing developments generally focus on the claimed inappropriateness of the site proposed and the inadequacy of local infrastructure such as schools, GP surgeries and transport links to support an increased population. It is therefore also regrettable that he has only accepted in principle the committee recommendation that the remit of the commission should be extended to include the supply of land for strategically significant housing developments and related supporting infrastructure alongside the economic and environmental infrastructure. His statement that this issue will not be considered until the review of the commission before the end of this Assembly term leaves the Welsh Government following rather than leading the agenda.

Ironically, the Welsh Government’s own local development plan manual, setting out criteria against which local planning applications will be considered, includes housing, access, parking, design, green infrastructure and landscaping, and refers to both sites for development and areas of restraint. It would therefore be entirely inconsistent if the remit of the commission excluded this. In contrast, good practice is exhibited in the North Wales Economic Ambition Board’s ‘A Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales’, which states that the delivery of the vision will be integrated into plans for sustainable community planning, but to deliver a more successful and balanced economy, long-term investment will be required to tackled long-term challenges, including housing needs, and that the housing offer across north Wales, a key component to enabling growth, will have to respond to demographic shifts and cater for housing needs across the region. Further, it identifies the need to address key barriers to housing delivery to ensure supply of adequate land for residential development to meet projected demand and need, especially reuse of brownfield sites, and to assist with costs associated with site remediation and enabling infrastructure.

In its acceptance, in principle only, of the committee’s recommendation that the commission should be based outside Cardiff and should not share premises with Welsh Government departments, but should share accommodation with another public body to keep costs down, the Cabinet Secretary rightly identifies the commission’s need to maintain its independence from a range of influences and bodies, which was precisely the point made by the committee. However, his response makes no reference to the commission’s location outside Cardiff, and I therefore ask him to address this in his response today.