5. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change: Trees and Timber

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:44 pm on 13 July 2021.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 4:44, 13 July 2021

I'm answering your questions as patiently as I can and going through one at a time. I could have been far more brutal in my response, frankly, Janet Finch-Saunders. I'm trying to be kind to you, but you are making it hard.

As opposed to excluding the unions, we've not excluded the unions. This was a very sharply focused taskforce. This was not a representative body with all the stakeholders. The NFU and NRW have fed into the land management report of the forestry enterprises which form the basis of our analysis. I met separately as part of a round-table with the NFU and the FUW and Coed Cymru who worked very closely with and played an integral part of the taskforce. So, I know it's easy just to tick boxes so everyone is kept happy; that wasn't the purpose of this exercise: its purpose was some sharp interrogation of the facts and focus on action to shift it and I think we've done that and I think we've—once you've had time to reflect and be a little more generous, you might accept that we've made some progress here.

As for the NRW being understaffed, there isn't an organisation in Wales that cannot make a case for having more staff. We're all struggling with capacity. That is one of the consequences of austerity, and she needs to understand the consequences of her own party's actions on that. But one thing that's become clear on this: there are 81 staff in NRW currently spending their time processing and approving woodland plans. We're going to free them up, so instead of a bureaucratic exercise which slows things down, we are freeing them up to play a role to help get more trees planted and that's something NRW have welcomed.

As for urban tree cover, that's very much part of our plans. I said we want every family to plant a tree; I also said we want all public bodies to identify land that is available and to proactively work with communities to get trees planted everywhere we can. So, I do think if you drop the oppositional tone and focus on the content, we actually agree on pretty much everything.