Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:41 pm on 29 September 2020.
Diolch yn fawr, Minister. I've enjoyed reading this latest iteration, which will culminate, as you say, in the 'Future Wales: the national plan 2040'. As Mike Hedges has said, whose committee and another committee have been following this in detail—as I have from the backbenches—it is a real step forward. It's developed a lot of the themes that were picked up earlier and has incorporated into what I think is a much more readable plan. But my overriding feeling is that, ultimately, it's not just that the devil is in the detail, but the devil is in the implementation of this as well, because I think you've got all the right things in here and it does pull together the various Welsh policies.
So, let me just first of all touch on what I definitely welcome. I definitely welcome the fact that this is running—to pick up Llyr's point earlier on—this is running alongside and being informed by the piece of work that Jeremy Miles is doing, which is building back that green economic recovery post COVID. I think, Llyr, this definitely needs to inform this piece of work, to make it a live piece, a live document going forward, and I think that's where the five-yearly review comes in as well. This shouldn't be a stick it out there and it's stuck then until 2040. This needs to be regularly informed and reviewed.
I welcome—despite the scepticism of other people—the fact that this is deeply shot through and underpinned by the well-being of future generations Act. That is a critical difference of what we're doing in Wales from other places, but again, the devil comes in the detail and the implementation. The fact that this is co-produced, the fact that this is built upon the pillars of looking after this and future generations, both inter- and intra-generational focus, is very, very welcome indeed. It's a different way of thinking, and I will not resile from repeating that, but what we now need to see is that made good with the various policies that flow from this. I welcome as well the fact that the integrated sustainability appraisals are part and parcel of the approach throughout this document, and I very much welcome and I pick up on what the Minister has said here: it just shouts out because of the way the changes have come through in this since the last iteration, the co-production, the engagement with people—not just committees here, but the wider Welsh public—where it screams out in the latest September 2020 version that we now have in front of us.
I definitely, definitely would applaud the focus on strategic placemaking, because this is critical: the idea of having places that are walkable and liveable places with mixed uses, with green infrastructure being part and parcel of the way you develop that placemaking, both locally and within a town and within a street, even, and the idea that within that placemaking, you also have plot developments set aside for people; that it's not just the big placemakers, the big companies and developers, it's others can come in and self-develop their own plots within areas for house building and so on.
I do, despite the sceptical tone of others, welcome the focus that is on 'town centre first' policy. For too long, quite frankly, we've lived in this strange context where we promote out-of-town development come what may, and we've seen the hollowing out of our towns. Now, we already faced the battle before we got to COVID, so I really welcome it, but, again, it's making it stick. The devil is going to be in the detail and the application of making this 'town centre first' policy really stick. And in all the town centres—so, market towns in mid Wales, as well as Valleys towns as well, strip Valleys towns that run along one street, making them vibrant parts of the community once again, instead of taking it out.
I really welcome the focus, I have to say, on nature-based solutions to flood management and coastal erosion. We've been saying this for decades, I was saying it when I was in Government in the UK Government, in terms of the shift we had to make, the seismic shift in the way we address these issues away from an over-reliance on built solutions, which are sometimes necessary, to a much greater reliance on natural solutions. I'm not sure, David, how much time I've got left, but I'm going to keep on—