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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:03 pm on 13 July 2021.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 5:03, 13 July 2021

Thank you. As I said when discussing transport, we need to make the right thing to do the easy thing to do, and I think that applies right across the behaviour change challenges for tackling climate change. I think the hedges and edges concept, which was brought to my attention by the Woodland Trust, who have done some really good work on this, is a really important one, because there is a journey to go on with some farmers who see this agenda as threatening to their way of farming, and that's why we need to have conversations with each of them to see what suits their land. And they all can identify bits of land where they'd be perfectly comfortable with having hedges and edges covered by trees, and I think that's a really important beginning for them on the behaviour change journey of how they farm as well. 

In terms of the specific point of ancient hedgerows, I don't know enough about that to give you an intelligent answer, so, if you don't mind, I'll go away, think about it, talk to some cleverer people, and get back to you.