3. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management, 2022-23 Programme of Investment

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:20 pm on 15 March 2022.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:20, 15 March 2022

On the confusion of responsibilities, I think there is an issue here in that there are overlapping responsibilities and there isn't always clarity, and that is one of the things I think the section 19 review that we agreed with Plaid Cymru as part of the co-operation agreement will look at, because that certainly was a factor in the Rhondda Cynon Taf incident. And I think through analysing all the different section 19 and NRW reports, we can look to see whether or not that is an issue that needs to be examined further. So, I think that's going to be a very helpful outcome of that process.

In terms of the specific issue of the Carmarthen quay, we've had applications for protecting businesses, whereas our funding guidelines are very clear that our priority must be protecting homes. And where schemes have got multiple benefits, clearly that is a bonus, but we do need to prioritise and the local authorities need to work with us to design schemes that can achieve as many objectives as possible.