Priorities for the Environment

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 29 January 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:06, 29 January 2019

Llywydd, I'm sure that John Griffiths is right when he points to the many different benefits that would come from a renewed focus on making the very most of the opportunities that there are in our urban areas to contribute to reversing the decline in our basic ecosystem and to make it resilient again. Those of us who live in the inner city of Cardiff are very well aware of actions that are already happening where local people are recolonising bits of green space that had otherwise been neglected, turning them into places where a greater diversity of natural species are to be found, making them more attractive to local residents to visit, planting fruit and vegetables in there as well, and doing all the things that John Griffiths said in answer to the question.

I know that he will be interested to know that on Monday of this week my colleague Lesley Griffiths was able to announce the first set of projects to benefit from the new funding stream that a number of us around this Chamber debated during the passage of the landfill disposals tax in Wales when we set up a new community scheme. Twenty-seven projects worth £1 million were announced by my colleague on Monday, and that included the Wastesavers Charitable Trust in Newport, which will benefit from £42,000 for a scheme that will increase awareness of reusing matters in the local community, contributing to a better environment in a different way. All of these things have an important part to play in achieving the sort of inner urban revival, as far as the environment is concerned, that John Griffiths has often championed in this Chamber.