Let me say this: the creation of a regional park in the south Wales Valleys should be something that can be celebrated across the whole country. The first speech, Deputy Presiding Officer, I made in this place, actually, something like 11 or 12 years ago, was on the dangers of parochialism, setting village against village, place against place, county against county, north against south, east against west, rural against urban. I think quite often Members do fall into the mistake of making that the proposition of their debate, and I hope that we able to move beyond that, and I hope that we are able to celebrate success in Wales wherever that happens to be. Certainly, what we're debating today is a model that can be—I hope, if it is successful, which I think it will be—extended elsewhere. I hope that, by creating a regional park in the Valleys of south Wales, we're also creating something where lessons can be learned for other parts of Wales as well. I hope also it's a means of uniting Wales so that people will be able to visit parts of Wales that perhaps they haven't done so before and to learn more about our own country, our own history, on our own terms. I think that can only be a good thing.

So, I hope that the Conservative spokesperson will endeavour to look beyond some of the easy lines and will look towards an initiative that will be a unifying initiative, and not something that can be created to divide again, on either party or geographical grounds or social grounds. So, let us not do that.

I hope that the way in which we are taking time to develop the model demonstrates that we are listening to what people are telling us, and listening to what is being said. I hope that when we come to deliver the sorts of governance and the structure of delivery that we will do exactly what the Conservative spokesperson has suggested and do that through co-delivery and through consultation and create a structure of delivery that brings people together from across the region, but at the same time is able to maximise the impact of people, with the different skills, different resources, available to them.

The £7 million that we have allocated to us in the budget is there in order to enable us to do that, to establish that structure, to establish the way of working, to establish the initiative in the first instance, and then, of course, we need to be able to fund that through revenue funding in years to come. But, at the moment, we are looking at how we establish it and how we do co-deliver that with local authorities, with NRW, with the third sector and with different community groups throughout the communities. By doing that I hope we will be able to do more than simply point to numbers on a chart. I recognise only too well the impact of not simply austerity, but of economic chaos, in the community that I represent. I have seen the impact of the closure of a steelworks on my constituency. I've seen the impact of the closure of mines in my constituency. I've seen that happen, and I've seen the impact it's had, not just in the economic graphs the Conservative spokesperson quoted, but I've seen the impact on people and families. What this is about is about creating—. I don't suggest it's a unique experience, but what I'm saying is that we will be measuring the success of this in human terms as well as economic terms, and I hope that we'll also be measuring the success of this in terms of our environment, in terms of our biodiversity, in terms of how we're able to manage our landscapes, in terms of how we're able to teach our own history to our people.

So, I want this to be a far more holistic approach to the future of the south Wales Valleys than simply a structure or a sign on the side of the road. I hope that, when we're able to do that, we will create something that will demonstrate that it has both the resilience and the sustainability of something that we're able to learn from for the future. The tourism ambassador scheme that the Member quotes is exactly the way that we can bring people together and ensure that the businesses, the initiatives, the facilities that we have available in the Valleys are actually generating support and employment for people in the Valleys, and it is the people of the Valleys who are telling their own stories.