Natural Resources Wales

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 14 July 2021.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:03, 14 July 2021

Thank you for that, Gareth. There's nothing like keeping it apolitical when dealing with serious issues like flooding, is there? We are, as you know, already in the process of reviewing the flood management arrangements. We've already welcomed a number of section 19 reports from local authorities in terms of flood protection, and we are working with NRW, Welsh Government officials and local authorities to make sure that we have the right level of flood protection, from the right agency, in the right place at the right time. I don't want to say anything against our local authority partners, who I know worked very hard throughout the winter this time, and throughout the winter preceding, in order to protect people from flooding, and to deal with the immediate aftermath of floods. But, it has to be said that, in doing a review, a review is done of all partners, and very seldom have I seen a review where one partner has done absolutely 100 per cent excellently and the other partner is entirely at fault. So, it behoves us all, in an apolitical manner here, to understand what went wrong and to put the systems in place to make sure that we learn those lessons and that this winter we have the very best protection from flooding. That's exactly what this Government is doing.