Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 6 December 2017.
I think I perhaps need to put some facts out here. I think there's a bit of mischief making by the Wales Office. I don't want people to think we've been sitting around doing nothing. You made reference to capacity. So, we've been working with the industry, we've been working with developers, we've been working with planning consultants, we've been working with Natural Resource Wales, to ensure that we can scope what's required. There was an agreement between BEIS and Welsh Government that those powers could be delayed. The Wales Office then got involved and that is now no longer the case. And, as I said, we've now been placed, I think, at a disadvantage. I know people have asked me why Scotland are able to do things quicker than us, for instance, and I should say that the case in Wales is very different to Scotland. Scotland was transferred directly to a fit-for-purpose consenting process that did not require transitional arrangements. We were not in that position, and because we'd been placed into inferior regimes, for instance, we needed to have a transitional arrangement, and that was agreed between ourselves and with BEIS.