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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:08 pm on 25 February 2020.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 4:08, 25 February 2020

As a north Walian, I very well remember and actually visiting Towyn 30 years ago; it's incredible to think it's that long ago, it was so devastating. You're right; the people I met in Blaenau Gwent, it was the first time these two streets had been flooded. It was a manhole coming off that had caused the flooding there—they'd never been flooded before—but the complete devastation and the fact that the water went from six inches to four foot in 20 minutes can tell you just how traumatic an experience that was. 

In relation to Llanfair TH, when I was in Llanrwst I obviously met with Conwy council and talked about what we could do there and, obviously, NRW are delivering a flood scheme there. I've asked for it to be expedited, so that is in relation to Llanfair TH. I think I've answered this already; I've already asked for a rapid review of the schemes that are currently in the pipeline to see again what we can accelerate there.

In relation to local authorities, it's a matter for a local authority how they spend their funding. RCT have chosen to do what they have chosen to do. It's up to Conwy—and Denbighshire was in my earlier answer to Llyr Huws Gruffydd—if they want to give funding. They all have reserves for a rainy day; well, you don't get much rainier than this, do you? So, if they choose to give their funding in that way, that's up to them.

And, again, about the—. We've had a lot of near misses. I mean, our flood alleviation schemes right across Wales stood up, but some by literally centimetres, and I'm thankful for that, obviously, but, again, we need to go back, I think, and revisit those schemes to see what more we need to do because, clearly, if we'd been working to one-in-a-hundred-years events and you mentioned three in eight years, I'm not saying that was a flood scheme, but we need to look to make sure our flood alleviation schemes right across Wales are up for the job. Diolch.