4. Topical Questions

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:28 pm on 18 July 2018.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 3:28, 18 July 2018

I hope that the Cabinet Secretary will be impressed that there is a cross-party consensus on this, not only from Lee Waters in the highly commendable way in which he phrased his question, from the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru, but also from UKIP, and, as a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I don't think I'm alone in saying that the evidence that we've received in the past from Natural Resources Wales has been deeply unimpressive on a whole range of levels. When Natural Resources Wales was formed, there were built into its structure perhaps many conflicts of interest that cannot be remedied—on the one hand, it's a commercial operation; on the other hand, it's charged with acting in the interests of the public—and I raised a case at First Minister's questions, unconnected with any of this, only on Tuesday last week about a contract that Natural Resources Wales has let in relation to BikePark Wales near Merthyr Tydfil, which is now restricting public access to public land for private interest and is purporting to fine people for riding on their cycle tracks without permission. So, there's a lot wrong with Natural Resources Wales, not just in terms of financial governance, but also in terms of the public policy implications that often surface in constituents' correspondence. So, can I urge her, along with Simon Thomas, to leave no stone unturned in unearthing the rottenness at the heart of this organisation? And, certainly, a complete change of personnel seems long overdue.