Minister, thank you for your statement this afternoon—part 2 of out interaction this afternoon. Anyone who's dealt with any constituency work knows the trauma that flooding brings. What was once a living room is, in essence, once it's been flooded, a sewer. The devastation of personal, family items lost forever, basically, and then the financial blight because of the inability to raise a mortgage or to be able to sell the property and just move on with one's life are cataclysmic in any circumstances.

So, the ability for NRW and its partner agencies, along with the Welsh Government, to make resources available, is a critical demand, if you like, that people place on Government to make that resource available. But it is a huge responsibility when you think of the coastal responsibilities that we have here in Wales, along with the inland waterways as well as the spontaneous flooding that we see. Only today, coming into the Assembly on the A48, because of the flash flooding there, a car had aquaplaned out of control. You could argue that the drainage system wasn't suitable to handle the volume of water that hit at that particular moment, you could, then. So, I don't envy some of the decisions you as a Minister have to take or indeed the sponsoring bodies that you obviously fund, such as NRW.

But it is vital that we do get this right, and I'd be keen to understand the Minister's take on this: is there any withdrawal from areas of Wales that, potentially in 20, 30, 40, 50 years' time could succumb to coastal erosion or chronic flooding? Because only three or four years ago, there were reports that there was a serious train of thought that, actually, we would, from a strategic point of view, withdraw from certain areas because they would just prove too costly to prevent and to put money into to prevent that flooding happening. And I think an assurance that that isn't part of the mainstream thinking, not just from the Government but from its sponsored agencies, would be most welcome indeed.

I also note from the statement that you talk about the new flood and coastal erosion committee being completed. It would be interesting to understand how that committee might work differently from what's happened before, albeit earlier on in the statement it does talk about there being consultations on the new strategic flood and coastal erosion risk management and the establishment of the new strategic flood and coastal erosion committee for Wales. Now, I might have misread that, but it seems to confirm later on in the statement that the committee's already established, yet earlier in the statement it talks of consulting on its way of working and the way it might undertake its duties. So, I'd be grateful for any understanding if there is to be further consultation, even though everyone's been appointed to that committee. But, more importantly, it would be good to understand what new capacity that will bring to the Minister and the planning for flood prevention across Wales.

Importantly, it is vital to understand how the planning system is being used to obviously assist and help in flood prevention matters. You only need to drive around Cardiff, for example—the First Minister here in his own constituency—and many hard-standing areas are introduced into residential environments that, historically, would have been gardens or areas that would have acted as a drainage pond for that particular property. And that is a common cause of flash flooding instances in many communities, where the water just simply doesn't have anywhere to go, basically. You talked about the SuDS and the new regulations that have come in. That has made a difference, but we're still seeing a constant deterioration of, in particular in the urban environment, some of that natural drainage that existed when a lot of these estates were developed 30, 40, 50 years ago.

I'm very pleased to see that you're advocating improvements in the mapping and understanding of the use of maps. As a Member in this institution now for some 12 years, I've dealt with various flooding matters in communities from Roath Brook to Llanmaes and Llantwit Major, and Barry as well, and when you do start going into these maps—I like to think I'm a reasonably educated person, but even people in society, the general public, would struggle to understand exactly the demands that are placed on how decisions are made. So, any simplification of that has to be very welcome indeed.

Finally, if I could press the Minister to maybe enlarge on how she seeks to share responsibility and costs. Many assets around Wales are joint assets. This doesn't just fall—I do have an element of sympathy with the Government when they're constantly being asked for money to go into flood prevention when, in fact, if you take the A55 and the north Wales coast railway line as well, there surely is a joint gain and joint benefit there from other public bodies and private companies coming to the table with some resource and some asset that would help projects come forward to realisation.

So, I thank you for your statement this afternoon, but I'd be most grateful for some substantive answers on the questions that I've put to you, please.