3. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: Emergency Flood Summit Update

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:47 pm on 25 February 2020.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 3:47, 25 February 2020

Diolch. You make a very important point about transport and roads and I think, again, we should place on record our sincere thanks to staff across the entire transport sector for those of us from north Wales who've had to come down again this week. It was equally as bad as last week, but I know they have been working tirelessly since the flooding began nearly two weeks ago to support the travelling public and to make sure we reopen our public transport and road network as quickly as possible.

You ask again about the public money that was being made available, so I mentioned that I visited Llanrwst on the Thursday; I was in my constituency on the Friday. I did try to get down to Cardiff on the Saturday when we realised the impact of storm Dennis, and I was unable to because of the train network. I'd already started to have conversations with the First Minister around what support we could give to people who had been flooded, and as I said in my answer to Janet Finch-Saunders, it does take a while to set up that scheme, but what the First Minister did straight away—but this wasn't made public, because obviously, you're doing it collectively as a Government—was that we identified the money. So, the First Minister, in the first meeting that I had with him on the Monday morning—he was adamant that that money would be found. We then found the mechanism to make sure that that money got out as quickly as possible to the public, so it opened yesterday. It did take a few days, but as I say, you've got to make sure that public money can be accounted for in the correct way.

The fact that RCT local authority are giving their residents an additional £500 is a matter for RCT. If Conwy Council choose not to do that, that's up to them. You know that the budget that local authorities get—it's up to them how they spend it with their local population, so you need to take that matter up with Conwy and Denbighshire. The money that we're giving as a Welsh Government will be the same. For a house that's been flooded, it will be £500. For a house that's been flooded that doesn't have insurance, it will be £1,000. There's also business funding available through—and people should contact—Business Wales. There was an earlier question around farms: they are businesses, and I have to say, most of the farmers I've spoken to have got insurance, but clearly, they are just as able to access that funding as a business as any other type of business. I mentioned in an earlier answer that we will be giving 100 per cent funding for clearing culverts and grids.

In relation to your questions around NRW, there are clearly lots of questions around NRW and what they have had to deal with over the last two weeks. I'm meeting with the Chair and the chief exec—I think it's next week—and obviously, this will be top of the agenda. But, what I have said to them is—. I've asked the specific question: do they have the resources—and that's human as well as financial resources—to be able to deal with that? So, I can give you a commitment that I will clearly look at anything that comes forward from them. But, again, I think that it's a little bit early to answer that question in detail.