Adverse Weather Conditions

1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd on 20 November 2019.

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Photo of Russell George Russell George Conservative

(Translated)

1. What additional allocations will be made available during the current budget round to support public services in dealing with adverse weather conditions? OAQ54689

Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:30, 20 November 2019

Through forward planning, we aim to prevent disruption due to adverse weather. This year, for example, we are investing more than £51 million in flood defence and coastal erosion risk management.

Photo of Russell George Russell George Conservative

Thank you for your answer, Minister. No doubt you will agree with me that we are seeing the changes in our climate due to climate change. And I would certainly say additional funding does need to be put in to dredging our rivers and water courses, which used to be undertaken on a more frequent basis some years ago, and also with additional funding for local authorities to carry out cleaning of culverts and drains. I would say that the pressure we are seeing placed on local authorities does mean that they do not have the resources that they once had to undertake some of this work, along with works on the road network, which also local authorities are responsible for. And I wonder whether you would commit to putting additional financial resources into both of these areas, which will, I would suggest, help alleviate flooding to many thousands of properties that are increasingly being put at greater risk of being flooded.

Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:32, 20 November 2019

Well, Russell George is right that the risk of flooding is becoming increasingly prevalent in our communities, which is why we're taking a preventative position, as far as we possibly can, by committing to invest more than £350 million in flooding defence and coastal erosion risk management over the lifetime of this Government. And I think it's worth recognising that we're allocating record levels of funding in this area, and our spending here in Wales, per capita, continues to outstrip English investment. So, in Wales, we spend £17.20 per person, versus only £14.05 per person in England. But I appreciate completely the pressures that local government are under in terms of continuing to fulfil their local roles, in terms of the maintenance of the systems, which is why we're committed to giving local government the best possible settlement in our budget for the forthcoming financial year.

Russell George also mentioned the importance of ensuring that trunk roads are particularly well cared for during harsh winters. And in the first instance, those additional costs will be managed through the rest of the motorway and trunk road budget, through the reprioritisation of spend to the end of the year. In some cases, we do have a legal duty to intervene, and funding would obviously not prevent a safety-related response. And, obviously, alongside the flooding issues, there are issues of ice on the roads as well. So, I can confirm that, for this winter, we've replaced 10 gritters, to increase resilience in our communities.

Photo of Mike Hedges Mike Hedges Labour 1:33, 20 November 2019

I think there are serious problems with flooding. Minister, would you agree that you're not going to solve the problem by just spending money and putting up higher and higher walls; the solution has got to be to find places for the water to go. And I talk often about the one on the River Tawe, where the water floods into a flood area, which is just land. Surely, if you're going to spend money, spend money on areas that we can flood, and flood successfully, without doing any damage, rather than building higher and higher walls, until such time as we keep on spending more and more of our budget on making walls higher and higher, but, as the water levels rise, we end up with the situation that there's water still coming over the walls.

Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:34, 20 November 2019

Mike Hedges is right that we have to invest in a range of solutions and preventative measures. So, an example—I think a very good example—is the RainScape initiative in Llanelli, which I know the Minister with responsibility for environment and rural affairs is particularly enthusiastic about. I know that she's considering the future sustainable drainage systems legislation and what that might mean in terms of the introduction of that piece of work. And again, if we're looking at building new housing estates, for example, we need to be looking at ways to manage the water on those estates. So, I know that this is an issue that the Minister's very alive to, and it's not just about building those high walls, as Mike Hedges suggested, but actually finding other ways in which to ensure that water drains off safely.