2. Will the First Minister provide an update on the Cardiff replacement local development plan? OQ57696

Llywydd, this is a matter for Cardiff city council. The council discharges its responsibility to produce an up-to-date local development plan with the framework set out by the Welsh Government.

Diolch yn fawr, Brif Weinidog. The most recent Welsh Government prediction for the growth of the Cardiff population was 0.6 per cent per annum, however, the three options provided by Cardiff Council in the replacement local development plan are far higher than that. The first option is 19,000 extra homes on 0.8 per cent per annum, the second is 24,000 with a projected growth of 1 per cent, and the third is 30,500 with 1.3 per cent growth per annum—more than double the Welsh Government's projection and nearly 20 per cent of the current homes in Cardiff. Additionally, the plan is to build on further greenfield sites in Cardiff.

I know it's a fundamental part of the co-operation agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government to protect green spaces, to protect biodiversity, and to plant more trees. Does the Prif Weinidog know why Cardiff Council are using higher predictions than the Welsh Government, and will he encourage the council to revise their predictions to enable us to protect more of our environment and biodiversity? Diolch yn fawr.

Llywydd, well, it is a requirement of 'Planning Policy Wales' that, in drawing up plans, a local authority must take into account the latest Welsh Government local authority level housing projections for Wales, and as Rhys ab Owen has said, the latest projections are lower than when the original Cardiff local development plan was drawn up. But as well as those projections, a local authority is entitled to take into account other considerations. Certainly, in Cardiff's case, the local authority will be taking into consideration the fact that there are 7,700 applicants on its existing waiting list, let alone any future growth in population. They will be taking into account the fact that Cardiff is allocated as a national growth area in the national development framework for Wales. I think the council is in the early stages of this latest iteration of its development plan. There will be many opportunities for Cardiff citizens to have their say and to make the points they would want to make to the local authority as it goes through the different stages of that plan, including and up to the independent inspector's examination of the plan, expected in 2024.

Of course I agree with what Rhys ab Owen said about the importance of green spaces in the city. It was very good to see, in October last year, that the authoritative University of Southampton index named Cardiff as the third-greenest city in the whole of the United Kingdom, and that in November of last year, the city achieved champion city status under the prestigious Queen's Green Canopy scheme, the scheme designed to mark the latest milestone in the sovereign's reign. That's because of the council's project to increase the tree canopy coverage for Cardiff from 19 per cent to 25 per cent. Alongside that, as also set out in the co-operation agreement between my party and Plaid Cymru, the council will be doing everything it can to make sure that there is decent and affordable housing for all of its citizens.