Flooding

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 16 December 2020.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:17, 16 December 2020

I'm grateful to you, Minister, for that answer. This weekend, I visited residents and businesses at Capel Teilo Road, which is between Trimsaran and Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire. A relatively small number of properties are affected, but very seriously affected, sometimes going weeks without being able to get their vehicles in and out. It's a complex pattern, Minister, with tidal flooding issues, some issues relating to the proximity of a railway and the difficulty of the water clearing. I'm sure, Minister, that you would agree with me that, when a member of a public agency said to one of the families that their property was, and I quote, 'dispensable' and that nothing could be done, that wasn't an acceptable approach. I won't name the agency because, obviously, the individual could potentially be identified by that.

But, Minister, if I write to you and ask you to do so, will you reply to me, encouraging all of the agencies that are in play here—and that includes Dŵr Cymru, Natural Resources Wales—. It also includes, obviously, the local authority and the railways, because of the railway line. Will you encourage them to come together at the site, with me and the residents, so that we can talk through what possibilities there might be? I realise that investment has to go to where the biggest number of properties are protected, but is it not also true that, when people are affected again and again and again, they too deserve our consideration and, potentially, some investment?