Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 29 January 2019.
Thank you for raising these issues and, certainly, it is exciting now that we're being able to see the fruits of the landfill disposal tax benefiting community schemes in the areas that are eligible. The first window, as you know, has been announced this last week, but the application now for the second round of funding has just closed, so we will be looking to make some announcements on that in due course. And the number of applications that we had in that second round has increased, and I would certainly hope that there will be in increases in future rounds as well. The WCVA is monitoring the applications that are made and they're certainly targeting those eligible areas where there have been smaller numbers of applications received in each of those funding cycles, in conjunction with the local county voluntary councils. So, there will be certainly communications going out to those areas, to ensure that communities that can be making the most of this scheme are benefiting. And I know that the Minister with responsibility for transport will be bringing forward a statement on railways very shortly, so there will be opportunity to explore some of the issues that you've described.