7. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government: The Independent Review on Decarbonising Welsh Homes

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:35 pm on 24 September 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 6:35, 24 September 2019

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. You've only got to look at the front page of Chris Jofeh's report, and the blue changing to red. The significance of that is that there's a stripe for every year of the temperature being recorded and the stark difference between the blue on the left-hand side and the bright red on the right-hand side on the front cover of the report. I did mean to bring it with me, Llywydd, but, of course, it's been a long day, so I've carefully left it upstairs. But it is a stark pictogram of the warming of the earth, and there's no getting away from the fact that it's changed substantially. We need to do everything that we can do in our power to stop it getting even brighter red, never mind turning it back to blue.  So, I couldn't agree more with you; we absolutely have got to push out the zero-carbon new builds policy as fast as we can, and review part L, as I was just saying in response to other contributors.

But the urban greening projects and the urban forest projects and the community orchard projects and community garden projects that we need to make our communities real communities—they bring mental health benefits, they bring socialisation and community cohesion benefits, but as you rightly point out, more than anything else, they bring oxygen and cooling, and they bring shade, and they bring biodiversity, so what's not to like? So, absolutely, we have to drive that kind of mentality into our planning system and into the urban environment. So, estate management around our housing is as important as the housing itself; I could not agree more.