I disagree with what the Minister said earlier, because the main message from me to Government on the national development framework is that circumstances now require the Government to take a step back and review the framework in light of the pandemic. Because we have reached this point, and it has taken a very long time to get to this point—I appreciate that—but that happened with barely no consideration of the long-term impact of the pandemic on our lives, and we are still learning and understanding some of those impacts, and there will be others over the next few months that we haven't anticipated. Therefore, that needs to be fully evaluated.

We know that more people will work from home and that that will mean that there will be fewer people travelling to work, and there will be more far-reaching implications for certain sectors as opposed to others in that regard. Digital infrastructure and broadband is going to be far more crucial in the future. High-density developments, of course, will now be seen as something that hastens a pandemic and, therefore, less desirable, and most certainly less desirable within planning policy. The quality of housing is more crucial than ever now from a health perspective. Access to green spaces, public parks and private gardens are becoming increasingly important. And, with less traffic, there will be more emphasis on public transport. But there are new challenges in that regard too, in terms of regaining public confidence when it comes to the management of diseases. All of these things have implications in terms of the national development framework.

And there are implications in terms of social justice too, because if the Government were to adopt a laissez-faire attitude, then I think it would intensify problems in terms of social justice. Because it's people who have the means and the wealth to work from home as an easier option who will then see rural areas as being more attractive than urban life, and that will have an impact in terms of population shift within Wales and beyond. And there are implications, as we have discussed in the Senedd recently, in terms of people being pushed out of their own communities. And the national development framework does mention the importance of mixed-age communities in rural areas. Well, that, in itself, means that we do have to review certain aspects of this. 

I have heard the Minister say that we've moved from three regions to four, and that's an improvement, of course, but the document doesn't recognise the Arfon region that Plaid Cymru has been pursuing, and which the Welsh Government has supported with a budget to develop that concept and entity. I think it's a mistake to omit that from the plan as an area that has unique, specific challenges and opportunities along the western coast, and I would like to see that corrected in the final framework. 

In terms of the north Wales region—and I'll be slightly parochial here—I do think there is an imbalance across north Wales. It's quite right that there should be a focus on Wrexham and Deeside as a growth area, but the rest of north Wales, over to Bangor, Caernarfon and Holyhead, is designated with a sub-regional role to support that growth area in the north-east. Now, I'm not quite sure how practical that is. Shouldn't we be focusing on the growth of north-west Wales itself, rather than it being a sub-region to north-east Wales? And, of course, reference is made to Wylfa in the document. Well, that element has substantially changed now with the uncertainty about the development there and, clearly, that is something that the Government would have to respond to. I know that some people will be eager to ensure that Wylfa still happens, but I do think that this framework does have to reflect the possibility that we will need to look at alternative developments in order to ensure that we're not always just waiting for something that may never happen.

More broadly speaking, I am pleased that wind energy and solar technology are separated, but I'm still concerned about this spatial approach that has been put in place, which, as I've raised before, is not on firm foundations and which will mean that less than 5 per cent of the areas that are pre-assessed—. Only some 5 per cent of the pre-assessed areas will be able to be developed in reality.

I still have some questions, but no time, of course, to pursue things such as the broader vision for rural areas and the Welsh language within the affordable housing scheme. I would have liked to have talked more about that. I welcome and thank the Government for the opportunity to have this debate. I'm slightly disappointed that it's happening so soon after the new development framework was laid, because it is a substantial document and having to debate it just days after it was laid is slightly unfair, I think. But I am pleased that the climate change committee will be scrutinising it in more detail and that, hopefully, on the back of the report of that committee, we can have a further debate here in the Senedd in order to discuss some of the more detailed issues that I would want to see the Government putting right and changing before I can support the national development framework.