5. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:47 pm on 11 December 2018.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 4:47, 11 December 2018

I wonder, leader of the house, if you will ask the next Cabinet Secretary for the environment to consider making a statement to this house on the potential of licensing systems for commercial shooting businesses in Wales. I'm not an opponent of field sports, but my colleague Councillor Bryn Davies in Pennant Melangell in north Montgomeryshire, is facing a situation where a particular business, where for decades they've shot for a couple of days a week in a way that’s perfectly acceptable to the local community, are now shooting four to five days a week for protracted lengths of time, and it seems that the powers available to the local authority are not sufficient for them to restrict this. This is obviously bringing the business itself into disrepute, it’s making things very, very difficult for the neighbours, and it’s actually having an impact on neighbouring farming businesses. So I'd be very grateful if whoever is the new Cabinet Secretary for the environment could take a look at the current system for regulating these businesses. And I should stress that this is a commercial business; this is not somebody who's doing a limited amount of shooting on their own land, obviously, or they wouldn't be shooting five days a week. And I really feel this is an area where we should be able to regulate effectively.