Natural Resources Wales

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 7 July 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 3:38, 7 July 2021

Thank you, Buffy, for those comments and remarks. I've certainly already welcomed Rhondda Cynon Taf's section 19 report in relation to the 2020 flooding in Pentre, and my sympathies go to all of the residents, including yourself, who suffered from the flooding in that extreme weather event last year.

There are clearly some very concerning findings, and lessons clearly need to be learned following those devastating floods. Both NRW and RCT have acknowledged this in their respective reports, and I know they are working together to address recommendations to improve the level of flood protection provided to the community. I can't comment on the individual issues around compensation and so on for obvious reasons. I am more than happy to meet with you and the local authority leaders, and, in fact, I believe we have such a meeting immediately following this topical question. So, I'll be very delighted to take part in that meeting and consider further what we can do.

I am very keen to consider the feedback from local authority leaders, other delivery partners, and the public in the context of the lessons we need to learn. We also need to make absolutely certain that all flood risk management authorities work together to develop a plan of action for the Pentre community and for the other communities across Wales, to provide clarity on the action they have taken since the floods in 2020 and to provide reassurance that we will not see recurrences of that in the forthcoming winter.

However, as you know, we have declared a climate and nature emergency in the Senedd because of our changing climate and the necessary need to protect against extreme weather events becoming much more common. So, I understand and accept the urgency of the remarks that you've made and we certainly will be working with NRW and all of the relevant flood risk management authorities to ensure that we have those robust emergency plans in place, and that we've taken all the necessary steps to do everything we can do to be as ready as possible for the forthcoming winter.