I'd like to thank the Deputy Minister for his statement this afternoon, and also add my own thanks to Phil Jones and the task and finish group for their work also. I should say that the issue of pavement parking is an issue that the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee has previously looked at, and we've particularly looked at it as part of our inquiry into active travel.

Pavement parking clearly has negative consequences on many pedestrians, including older people, disabled people and children, so I do welcome the task and finish group's recommendations, and I also welcome the Welsh Government's response. I don't think that we're in a great deal of disagreement this afternoon on this issue. I should say that I'm sure other Members have had constituency issues raised with them, and I agree with the Deputy Minister, when I looked into this myself as a constituency Member, that there is no clear guidance in law on this particular area.

I suspect you will agree with me, Minister, that the challenge that we have is that, in many areas, pavement parking is considered essential, not only because people living in those areas have nowhere else to park, but because emergency vehicles and recycling vehicles et cetera would not be able to get through on certain streets if people did not park on the pavement. So, any legislation, whether primary or secondary, would, of course, generate considerable anxiety amongst some communities where it was the only way for residents to park near their home. So, in that vein, how would the Welsh Government give due consideration to this during any national public awareness campaign on the issue in an effort to increase public understanding and gain public feedback? And how much funding will your department dedicate towards the public education campaign?

In implementing this policy, it seems that every local authority, if I've understood this right, would have to do an audit of the many hundreds of roads in their respective areas. And it would then have to make transport regulation orders for any exemption that needs to be made. So, it would be, I think, irresponsible not to consider the pressure on local authorities of having to exempt hundreds of streets in many cases. So, I wonder what discussions you've had with your colleague the Deputy Minister for local government and with local authority leaders to gain their views on this, what I think is a very likely a difficult task.

Urban areas such as Cardiff and Swansea are clearly very different in terms of population distribution to that of rural authorities such as Powys or Ceredigion, and there could be considerable unintended consequences of a blanket ban, if brought in, so I think we've got to be careful that, in alleviating a problem, which we all agree that there is, we don't create another problem in another area. So, I wonder what the risk of any ban would cause in terms of unintended consequences. I'm sure, Minister, that you and your officials have considered that, so it would be useful to have your thinking on that. And if you could also—. You could easily envisage a circumstance whereby some local authorities might need to exempt hundreds of roads from a ban because of the way the roads are laid out. Each road could cost at least £1,000 to exempt, and the cost of preparing a pavement parking ban could fall disproportionately on authorities that have denser populations of potentially poorer communities, because of the nature of streets and the larger stocks of terraced houses. I would be grateful if you could outline what considerations the Welsh Government has given to this.

Finally, it is important that enforcement sits with the body most able to enforce it, and the evidence points to local authorities being the most appropriate body. However, given that local authority budgets and policing budgets are stretched, I would be grateful if you could perhaps give some thoughts on how the regulations would tailor with appropriate enforcement activity appropriately as well.