Natural Resources Wales

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 14 July 2021.

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Photo of Heledd Fychan Heledd Fychan Plaid Cymru 2:01, 14 July 2021

(Translated)

Thank you very much, Minister. I should declare here that I am a councillor in RCT too. You will be aware, I'm sure, that the Welsh Government has given funding to a number of local authorities, including RCT, to spend on temporary flood defences for homes, such as the flood gates and so on, and the project is being administered by Natural Resources Wales. Although a number of homes have benefited from that, there is inconsistency in terms of how decisions are made in terms of which homes qualify and which don't. For example, on one street in Pontypridd, 30 houses were flooded in February 2020, but only 13 have been offered gates. NRW say that the rest of the homes aren't at as great a risk of flooding. It's very difficult to explain to people why they don't qualify for these flood gates, given that they had been flooded at exactly the same time. So, can I ask you, therefore, because I've not been able to get answers to this: will the Minister intervene in this issue and ask for an update in terms of how Government funding is spent and how decisions are made in terms of which homes qualify and which homes don't? I'm sure many people would agree that every home that has suffered from flooding should be given the same offer.