6. Will the Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for the restoration of Ruperra Castle near Draethen? OAQ54699

I think we're going there this week, aren't we, or next week? [Interruption.] I think.

I will provide this response in Welsh, because I know you're a Welsh learner. 

The Welsh Government supports the conservation of historic sites, which are important to Wales, such as Ruperra castle.

Is that right? Ruperra—Rhiw'r Perrai. Well, so say my scholastic advisers. 

Cadw has provided long-term support to the castle over many years through financial grants and professional advice. 

It was testing my Welsh there. If you're going to answer in Welsh now, I'm going to put my headphones on.

I understood you were visiting this week, but it's next week you're visiting Ruperra castle. In their submission to the public consultation on the draft national development framework, the Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust, who I met last week, supported the establishment of a green belt for south-east Wales and suggest it includes Caerphilly mountain, the River Taff eastwards to Coed Craig Ruperra and south to Castleton as well, which currently is not the case. Unless all this land is added to the existing green belt, then they've got concerns that, between Cardiff and Newport, if there's no protection, there's a real danger that that area will be taken and built on by developers, which will spoil any chance of the preservation of Ruperra castle and the surrounding grounds. 

The trust and their sister organisation, the Ruperra Conservation Trust, have also objected to plans to make piecemeal repairs to different parts of the estate without the benefit of a wider master plan. And I've made objections to Caerphilly County Borough Council on both those grounds and made a submission to the national development framework consultation. With that in mind, will the Minister reflect on these concerns when visiting Ruperra castle, and will he then report back on how the discussion went at the visit? And can he outline what he intends to achieve on that visit, and how he will take the message, with regard to the issues that I've raised, from across Government to the people he meets at Ruperra at the time of the meeting?

Thank you very much for that detailed question. I will certainly undertake to observe the castle in context and in landscape, or townscape, because historic buildings do not exist on their own. They always exist in relation to the natural environment or the built environment that surrounds them and therefore there is a responsibility on Cadw and we do always comment, 'We are statutory.' I shouldn't say 'we', really, because I'm the Minister for Cadw, but it is one of my favourite organisations in all the world and was before I had this job. [Laughter.] So, Cadw does respond to any statutory consultation, and will set out the protection for the heritage monument if it is affected by adverse exterior development.

I cannot comment on the broader planning issues, which, of course, are for the planning Minister, but in considering planning issues we have to take and we do take within Government very much an integrated approach, so that all the factors that arise from a proposed development, and how they impact the existing structures, are something that would be considered. Of course, I would expect that any major development in an area of that kind would probably be subject to a planning process that might require a public inquiry and, possibly, a report from an inspector, but I can't speculate on that, and that would give an opportunity for the public and you, of course, as their representative, to make full-hearted comments about the development.

And finally, question 7—David Rees.