Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:15 pm on 17 January 2018.
Absolutely. The Welsh Government has provided £200,000 to Natural Resources Wales to help fund additional waste crime work. The funding has paid for an officer from the fire and rescue services to work with Natural Resources Wales to develop and embed guidance on fire prevention at waste sites. The Welsh Government introduced powers in October 2015 to make it easier for the regulator to suspend permits and to take steps to remove any risks. We will be laying another instrument on waste crime towards the end of this month, for scrutiny by the National Assembly, to provide the powers for Natural Resources Wales to lock the gates of sites to stop access and prevent waste coming on to a site, and a second power will be aimed at those who unlawfully keep or allow waste to be kept on land and make them responsible.