Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:33 pm on 19 June 2019.
Climate change is one of the biggest issues right now, and the activity throughout the world is something to admire and to encourage. But what really frustrates me about Wales is that we have a Government declaring a climate change emergency, and yet the actual concrete policies on the ground totally fly in the face of that declaration.
As ever, I'll talk about local development plans, because those are the blueprints for the future of Wales, of our communities. And if we look at Cardiff's local development plan, there's just field upon field being concreted right now, habitats being destroyed, which will never, ever be replaced, flood plains being built on, and an absolute calamity for the environment. So, please forgive me, but we're here talking about the climate change emergency and we all agree on it it seems, almost, and yet what is being done flies in the face of it, as I said.
I'll declare an interest, because very near to where I live, there are going to be 10,000 extra cars on the road every single day. And the number is increasing already. We see gridlock. We have cars throwing out poisonous fumes. It just seems that nowadays everyone I speak to has asthma. People in their late 40s and 50s are developing asthma nowadays.
What I really would love to see from the Government in this Assembly is some proactive policies. Trams—let's have electric trams in this city. Let's make sure that every bus that runs is an electric bus. Why aren't we greening public infrastructure? We have bridges everywhere ferrying tens of thousands of cars every single day. The flyover in Gabalfa—green it. Look what they do around the world. [Interruption.] Yes.