Plaid Cymru will be abstaining on the regulations relating to Bangor in my constituency. We didn't oppose their introduction, but we were dissatisfied with communication issues and the lack of local communication around the process of introducing the regulations. We need far clearer communication with local communities, such as those in Bangor, if local lockdowns will be required again in future. Circumstances have now changed, but there are important lessons to be learned, I believe. 

I would like to draw attention to point 5 in the explanatory memorandum, which mentions consultation and says that there was no formal consultation on the regulations for the eight Bangor wards. Now, I accept that there isn't time for formal consultation in a time of crisis, but I do think that there are lessons to be learned from the way in which these restrictions and the need for these restrictions were communicated to the local population. And I do believe that we need to introduce new protocols in order to ensure improved communications with community leaders at a local level.

In the case of Bangor, there was no communication between the Welsh Government and county councillors in the eight wards, or the city councillors, and the only thing I received as a Member of the Senedd—and the same was true for the Member of Parliament—was a phone call a quarter of an hour before a Government Minister stated on television that those restrictions were to come into place in less than 24 hours’ time. That led to all sorts of problems for constituents who were naturally turning to their community leaders for information, but that information wasn’t available to us. Had we been briefed beforehand, even eight hours beforehand, we could have helped to avoid much of the confusion that arose.

In the case of Bangor, many were questioning why one whole ward, which includes a large part of the city, was left out from the local health protection zone. I assume that there is a rationale behind that, but I received no explanation as to what that was and, to this day, I’ve received no explanation on that point. Including the Pentir ward would have made sense, because it would have included the whole city within the local health protection zone and would have also included a rural part, which includes a section of the coastal path as well as other rural areas, which would then have been available to constituents within the city who have had to be restricted to an urban geographical area with very few green spaces. I assume that there is a scientific explanation why the Pentir ward wasn’t included, but without knowing that, how can local leaders convey that information to local people? Without that information you get confusion and doubt, and ultimately that leads to less compliance, and compliance is what we are looking for of course.

So, I would draw the Government’s attention to this issue in the Senedd today so that you can take action to secure better communication and clear communication as we move forward. I hope that you will listen to these comments. My purpose is to assist Government to improve communications protocols as we move to the next phase, in order to secure better compliance ultimately.