2. Will the Minister make a statement on flood risk management in Ruthin? OQ56206

Thank you. It is of great concern that 10 properties in Ruthin and five others in surrounding villages were flooded from storm Christoph. Denbighshire has three flood alleviation projects in development in the area, totalling £1.2 million, including a River Clwyd catchment scheme upstream of Ruthin. A £5.1 million project was completed in 2012.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. Minister, I've been contacted by many constituents whose homes were affected by the flooding just a few weeks ago, in terms of storm Christoph, and they've raised concerns with me that the authorities seem to be aware that there were some deficiencies in the flood defences, and in fact the flood defences in Cae Ddol park had been topped up with sandbags up until a few months prior to this particular flooding event. Many of those residents say that if those sandbags had still been in place and not taken away by Natural Resources Wales, or whichever authority placed them there, then their homes and businesses may not have been actually flooded. Can you assure us that the investigations that will now be under way into that flooding event will take these matters into account, and that, should the defences in the Ruthin area be found to be deficient in any way, the Welsh Government will make the funding available in order to improve flood resilience in Ruthin for my constituents and for the businesses situated there?

Well, Welsh Government has made significant funding available this term. We've already met the commitment we did make at the beginning of this term of Government to invest in our flood defences, with over £390 million going into our flood and coastal erosion risk management over our two programmes. And I think it's fair to say that if it wasn't for that investment by the Welsh Government, the situation would be much worse. We've faced some significant flood events over the last year, which Members will be aware of. It's horrific when your home is flooded, and I send my sincere sympathy to your constituents who have been affected in this way. You'll be aware that following any flood event, there has to be an investigation by the risk management authority. In this case it would be Denbighshire County Council, and they will have to bring forward section 19 reports at the opportune moment. I'm not aware of the situation you refer to. So, I don't know whether it was NRW as the risk management authority or if, indeed, it was the local authority, but I would expect that to come out in the report.

There is investment in the Ruthin area, and I'm aware of the Graigfechan business justification case, which we've given funding for, the Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd design work, and the River Clwyd catchment natural flood management, which we've given £1 million for. If anything did come out in that investigation, and I've already asked all risk management authorities to look at what further needs to be done to defences, then they can, of course, come forward and apply for funding. Just last year, I provided 100 per cent grant funding for emergency repairs to damaged flood assets across Wales, and I think that totalled about £4.6 million.