Item 6 is a debate on a Member's legislative proposal, marine planning in Wales. I call on Janet Finch-Saunders to move the motion.

Motion NDM7896 Janet Finch-Saunders

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes a proposal for a Bill on marine planning in Wales.

2. Notes that the purpose of this Bill would be to:

a) make provisions for policies that would help guide the siting of developments away from the most ecologically sensitive areas, minimise the cumulative impacts on vulnerable habitats and species, and provide greater certainty to developers;

b) create a duty for the Welsh Government to facilitate the creation of a national marine development plan, and review it at least once in every Senedd;

c) establish strategic resource areas for marine energy;

d) publish a strategy for reversing seabirds decline;

e) require that offshore wind farms include habitat restoration of the seabed; strategy for sustainable seafood harvesting from within the area of the windfarm and, environmental enhancement measures.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The historic absence of marine spatial planning and an isolated approach to managing our seas means that we now face unco-ordinated scrambles for space and increasing delays for industry. As we urgently need to move away from Russian hydrocarbons following Putin's illegal invasion, we must have the best legislation possible, which champions marine energy projects and greater energy security whilst keeping the nature and climate crisis at heart. This proposal would do just that.

So, why should this Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, legislate on marine planning? Well, the recent Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee report on the draft budget highlighted our finding that there is concern about barriers to renewable offshore energy generation in Wales, including a paucity in the marine environmental evidence base, and complexity that bring delays in the consenting and licensing process. There are widespread concerns about NRW's ability to effectively carry out its roles and responsibilities, including monitoring and assessing the condition of marine sites while supporting marine planning, and that whilst a review to streamline the consenting process is to be welcomed, there is still a severe lack of a robust evidence base to underpin development decisions, and there are consequently inherent risks in ramping up development. This is certainly what we do not want to be hearing at a time when the UK Government has rightly set an ambitious target to deliver 40 GW of offshore wind by 2030. There are approximately 4 GW of upcoming additional offshore wind developments in north Wales, and the Crown Estate is pursuing plans for floating wind in the Celtic sea. The Welsh Government has already failed to meet the deadline to achieve or even maintain good environmental status, GES, of marine waters. Marine biodiversity is declining. In fact, according to the second 'State of Natural Resources Report', only 46 per cent of the marine protected area network features are in favourable condition. The lack of true spatial planning to guide the sustainable use of our seas hinders GES and threatens the upscaling of offshore wind. 

Whilst I acknowledge the commitment in the renewable energy deep dive, and I thank the Deputy Minister for doing this, to work with NRW and key stakeholders to identify marine strategic resource areas by 2023, this was to provide guidance to signpost appropriate and inappropriate areas for development. But that is only guidance. We now need to create a legal duty to create a national marine development plan, one that is relevant to Wales, and to keep it under regular review. As the RSPB have stated, the lack of robust statutory weighted development control and spatial policies to steer developments away from environmentally sensitive areas from the outset does create uncertainty for all parties, and inevitably leads to conflict at the application stage. 

Baroness Brown of Cambridge endorsed spatial planning, stating:

'I think sea bed planning in order to make sure that we can enable these activities to coexist without...urbanising the sea bed, is hugely important.'

Many Members work with the Marine Conservation Society, and they have stated that they are wary of a piecemeal approach that, when coupled with a significant ramping up of development proposals, is a recipe for unforeseen, cumulative and in-combination impacts. Strategic resource areas need to sit firmly within a holistic marine spatial plan, as is highlighted in the report on the Welsh Government's own marine policies. Environmental stakeholders called for a cross-sector statutory spatial plan that addresses the cumulative impacts of marine development. So, let's ask ourselves: how can it be right that, whilst planning on land has 'Future Wales', 'Planning Policy Wales' and local development plans to guide development, at present, there is no similar system for what happens in our seas—and, I would just add, the great expanse of our seas? This is despite Welsh territorial seas covering some 32,000 sq km. 

Janet, will you take an intervention?

Yes, of course. 

I don't know which screen to look at. You're twice in front of me, Janet. Many thanks for bringing this debate; I think it's a very important one. One of the things I'm not clear on, and I wonder if you can help, or perhaps the Minister can afterwards, is whether we need new legislation or if the existing marine planning and marine and coastal legislation allows us to put a marine plan on a statutory footing without a new law. Have you got any clarity on that? If not, could you add to your contribution that request to the Minister: can we just get on with it and do it now, or do we need a new piece of law?

Thank you, Huw. It's fair to say I really appreciate working with you on the committee that we're on. As for whether it needs to be a new piece of law or whether we can adapt, currently a lot of the measures are just guidance, Huw. So, consequentially, what we're looking for is to ensure that that legislation covers some of the things I've said, and there are going to be a lot more yet. It has to be covered by legislation. I don't know whether the Deputy Minister or Minister can advise us today whether that needs to be new legislation, but we definitely need this marine spatial plan to be in law, rather than just guidance. 

The consequence is that, for example, the Crown Estate leads the process by way of individual rounds of sea bed lease deployments. In fact, in carbon budget 2, you more or less admit that you are letting the Crown Estate lead, stating that you are collaborating to understand spatial opportunities for offshore wind, including floating wind developments. Rather than the recent focus that's been on devolving the Crown Estate, we should be prioritising the climate and nature crisis by developing a national marine development plan, and one that is covered by legislation.

We also need to create a Welsh sea bird recovery strategy. The UK Government and Scottish Government have both committed to address the threats and pressures on sea birds, yet, again, we're still waiting here, and this is despite the fact that there has been a severe decline in Wales's breeding kittiwakes, 35 per cent since 1986. In fact, Dr Catharine Horswill stated recently:

'We need to tighten up assessments to make sure that potential impacts to already struggling wildlife, such as the kittiwake, are better understood.'

Similarly, Lisa Morgan of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales has stated that the location, scale and type of marine renewable energy schemes should be determined by proper environmental assessments. I honestly cannot see how anybody could argue with that. Even our fishermen and the aquaculture sector have highlighted an urgent need to take action in relation to windfarms.  

Janet, you've used up your time. I'm going to give you extra time as there was an intervention, but you have got very little time left to close, if you don't close the first part now. 

Okay. As our climate change committee recently heard, the marine plan is not fit for purpose in the context of the anticipated step change in development. I ask this Senedd to let that process of shaping our seas continue in a way that benefits the climate and our nature crisis by supporting this legislative proposal today. Thank you. Diolch. 

Thank you, Janet, for tabling this debate. As a Member who represents a sizeable stretch of our coastline, I like to remind people that Welsh seas are more than a third larger than the Welsh land mass. So, marine planning is critical to many policies and priorities, from climate change to biodiversity, economic development to energy security. As a member of the Senedd committee that recently reported on the Welsh Government's marine policies, I have looked at how these competing and overlapping demands are being managed and balanced.

Ever since we reported, which was last month, the scales have significantly tipped. The war in Ukraine has put energy security and curbing fossil fuel imports at the top of the agenda. The Welsh Government was, of course, already committed to decreasing carbon emissions by 95 per cent by 2050. The sanctions against Russia highlight why that is a national security as well as a climate security issue. We will hear a lot more about electricity generation from offshore wind, wave and tidal currents coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Wales, of course, is best placed—literally, geographically—to generate these sustainable forms of energy. In west Wales, we have the Pembrokeshire demonstration zone and Wave Hub. Like the other energy-generation zones, it leases its right to use the sea bed from the Crown Estate, which Janet has just mentioned. And if devolving the estate can help us meet our aspiration to be a world leader in renewable energy, we must, of course, pursue that. But we must also ensure we have a robust plan to site and develop these technologies sensitively and appropriately to mitigate and minimise impacts on marine ecosystems and blue carbon stores. I agree with Janet on that. 

I mention blue carbon because as well as the ecologically sensitive areas and vulnerable habitats and species that the motion lists, we must also consider blue carbon habitats and stores, sequestration and restoration. At least 113 million tonnes of carbon are stored in Welsh marine habitats, nearly 10 years' worth of Welsh carbon emissions. So, they're critical to achieving our climate change goals. NRW is due to publish a report documenting the carbon sequestration potential for the existing marine protected areas soon, and I look forward to reading that. 

Welsh Labour has a manifesto commitment to restore coastal habitat restoration. We could extend that to include both blue carbon and ecologically significant habitats in the Welsh sea area. Going forward, the overarching aim should be to protect, restore and enhance blue carbon habitats, like seagrass meadow, at every opportunity.

I'd like to thank the Member for Aberconwy for giving me the opportunity to speak in her debate this afternoon. Fellow Members may be well aware of my affinity for the Atlantic grey seal. Indeed, the family home is even named after one. As its species champion here in the Senedd, I am incredibly grateful to represent, and be the voice of, such a magnificent creature, which calls the waters off our Welsh coast home.

For those that don't know, over half the world's populations of Atlantic grey seals can be found surfing the waves of the British isles, from the coast of Amroth and the isle of Skomer, to the Orkney islands in the far north of Scotland. It's no coincidence that these beautiful creatures also choose to reside in the most beautiful of places—of course, the coast of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire being their favourite location.

However, each of these locations also offers us valuable resources in our search for cleaner, greener renewable energy. In my own constituency is the fantastic Blue Gem Wind project, an offshore floating wind farm that is developing a new generation of energy in our Celtic sea. Having had the opportunity to visit Blue Gem and learned the benefits that it can bring in terms of both renewable energy and economic prosperity, it truly is a fantastic asset to not only Pembrokeshire but Wales as a whole.

As this motion rightly highlights, our drive for marine renewables must be considered against the backdrop of all of our existing marine commitments, including fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, navigational channels and, of course, biodiversity and marine animal protection. Indeed, this is what Blue Gem has done so successfully. They developed a plan-led approach to site selection, driven by technical and environmental considerations, with the overarching objective of identifying a viable site while minimising the impact on the environment and marine life.

Before making the decision to develop the Pembrokeshire site, a host of factors were considered, including bathymetry, the measurement of the depth of water; wind resource; proximity to nature; conservation designations; sea birds; marine mammals; fisheries; shipping; and proximity to ports—a whole host of options. This is an example of how it is to be done correctly, a process that any future marine development should replicate. But, as the Member for Aberconwy rightly pointed out, this is only guidance at present, and it does need to be added to the legislative statute here in Wales. The Member also mentioned the RSPB, which has said that we have one chance to ensure that we deliver marine renewables at a pace and quantum that allows us to meet our environmental targets, both climate and nature. Indeed, the two do go hand in hand.

So, I'm grateful to the Member for Aberconwy for bringing this forward. We need to get this right. There is a duty on the Welsh Government to facilitate the creation of a national marine development plan, protecting both Wales's climate and nature for future generations. Diolch.

Thank you for the motion in front of us today to the Member for Aberconwy. I see value in considering how we could draw together the different elements with regard to planning related to the marine environment, even though, like the Member for Ogmore, I'm not entirely sure that we need to take that further step for legislation. I do think that we need to consider that and see how we can press further on this, as it is important.

There are elements of the motion in front of us that I believe I would have put in a slightly different way. It talks about sea birds and wind farms and so on, but perhaps what we need to do is to set it out more widely than that. There is more to sea life than birds, and there is more to energy plans than wind farms offshore. But, despite that, there are important principles here. What we need, of course, is to strike the correct balance between use and exploiting our marine resources and having a sufficiently robust level of conservation too.

The Morlais scheme, off the coast of my constituency, is a very good example of what we're trying to achieve. It's an innovative scheme, to develop tidal energy technologies, with the aim of facilitating experimentation in that area through facilitating the consent process for individual developers, and it's very clear at the same time in terms of its conservation duties, and does that, of course, as a social enterprise, which is very important. But it has been a far longer process than it should have been. And if we can have legislation that assists in that regard, then do let us look at that. I know that the Government, the Minister and the Deputy Minister, are supportive of that scheme—and I'm grateful for that—but we need to make it clear that the processes of Natural Resources Wales, for example, work constructively and effectively with schemes such as Morlais, in order to achieve them in a way, yes, that caters for our natural environment.

May I refer to one clause in this motion—that we need to be very aware of the cumulative effect of schemes? That concerns me particularly with regard to solar developments on Anglesey—offshore and on land. And I have a direct question to the Minister: does the Minister agree that planning decisions with regard to the Welsh environment should look at the cumulative impact of the large numbers of solar applications on Môn, before we reach the point, inevitably, where there will be that negative cumulative impact? The principle, as I say, is the same, with regard to on-land or offshore developments.

To conclude, I'm surprised that the Member for Aberconwy continues to oppose the devolution of the Crown Estate. Wouldn't that encourage better use and more innovative use of the seas around us, and would encourage accountability? But to summarise, we need a vision, we need a plan, we need a clear action plan. And if a new legislative framework would help in that regard, then do let us bear that in mind.

Can I thank Janet Finch-Saunders for this debate as well? And I want to stand up, just as Samuel Kurtz did, for my species. I am the species champion for the pink sea fan—another name for it is the warty gorgonian, but I much prefer pink sea fan. They are a type of coral, and they don't have to be pink—they can be orange or they can be white. Most pink sea fans can grow to a height of around 25 cm, although some to 50 cm, and some to 1m, and it takes them a year to grow 1 cm. The pink sea fan is nationally scarce and globally vulnerable, and is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It's a priority species under the UK post-2010 biodiversity framework, and a feature of conservation importance, for which the marine conservation zones can be designated.

The condition, as we've heard, of our marine areas, and the health of our marine wildlife, is deteriorating, and it is essential that we do all we can to protect and enhance marine wildlife. That, of course, has to be balanced with our plans to expand our tidal energy, and the need for that is greater now than it's ever been. So, I would actually take issue with the Conservatives in relation to the lack of funding for the Swansea tidal lagoon, because that would have given us such an opportunity to expand our tidal energy. But I do support the intention here to ensure that the necessary funding, planning, training and regulation is in place so we can protect, not only the pink sea fan, but many other species of wildlife, habitats and those other species that are at risk. Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I call on the Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to respond to the debate this afternoon.

It's an important debate, and it's centred on the importance of planning for development, while protecting and restoring our marine environment. And the Government is very supportive of this sentiment, and, as noted by the committee, urgent action is needed to achieve net zero, while also cherishing our seas and marine biodiversity. Indeed, many of the areas with the greatest potential for exploitation of marine energy are also some of our most sensitive sites for marine life. So, we do have to strike a careful balance.

And that's why we've put in place the first Welsh marine plan, which we will be reviewing in the autumn, and it will be reviewed every three years, and the Government will report on its finding to the Senedd. So, the Welsh Government already has extensive and progressive marine planning powers granted through the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, as Huw Irranca-Davies mentioned, and we've used these powers to introduce our marine plan. So, we don't feel that any more powers are needed. Our focus is on the implementation of the plan as we develop marine planning.

But, of course, technology has developed since the plan was introduced in 2019, and we recognise we can and must do more. And our priority is to provide greater direction for development through the marine plan, and this includes improving our understanding of opportunities for development, and environmental sensitivities must and will be taken into account. In January we published our first locational guidance, and this guidance signposts towards areas with potential for development, and helps developers understand environmental sensitivities. It's supported by interactive mapping on the marine planning portal. The motion mentions developing strategic resource areas, or SRAs, and I'm pleased to tell Members that work is already under way on SRAs. Indeed, the first stakeholder event was held yesterday. These strategic resource areas will help us understand which areas have potential for sustainable development, including for renewable energy. Now, these areas will be safeguarded through our marine planning system. So, to be clear, all development, including strategic resource areas, will have to satisfy robust environmental regulations before consent is granted. 

The urgency of addressing climate change is clear, Dirprwy Lywydd, and the deep dive into renewable energy that we conducted just before Christmas reaffirmed our commitment to developing sustainable renewable energy generation and blasting through any barriers that stood in its way. We are clear that marine energy, including offshore wind, forms a vital part of our future energy mix. The motion also calls for offshore wind farms to include environmental enhancements. Not only does the marine plan require developers to consider the sensitivity of marine ecosystems, it also encourages developers to contribute to the restoration and enhancement of the marine environment. One of the actions flowing from the deep dive was an end-to-end review of the marine licensing system, which we're just beginning work on. This review aims to identity opportunities for positive outcomes for both renewable energy and marine biodiversity. But we do recognise more needs to be done to protect our sea birds and improve their status, and we are working with partners, including Natural Resources Wales and the RSPB, to produce a Welsh sea bird conservation strategy. The strategy will assess the vulnerability of sea bird species and identify actions to support their conservation. 

The motion also calls for offshore wind developers to provide a strategy for sustainable seafood harvesting, and the marine plan already includes a policy requiring developers to consider opportunities to share the same area or infrastructure with other marine activities. So, again, the pattern here is, Dirprwy Lywydd, the sentiment we agree with—we don't think it requires fresh legislation. We think this can be done through an updated plan, and we want to work with Members to make the plan as strong as possible. The central argument in Janet Finch-Saunders's opening remarks, which I'm sure she'll return to, is that our guidance should be put in statute, but whenever you put guidance in statute you make it rigid, because then you have to set new statute to update the guidance. And what we know about climate change is that the science is developing rapidly, and we wouldn't want to slow down our ability to act by putting into statute something that we covered in guidance, which is underpinned by law, just as we do in all sorts of other areas where we have a framework of legislation and we have guidance that we then update to reflect the science. So, we think this is a much more flexible and more appropriate approach, rather than bogging us down with legal barriers, which is something normally the Conservatives discourage us from doing. 

The marine plan also recognises the importance of sustainable seafood harvesting. It sets clear policy, supporting the sustainable diversification of our fisheries and the development of aquaculture, and we're developing sector locational guidance to understand future opportunities for aquaculture. We're also progressing work to map strategic resource areas for this sector. So, in closing, Dirprwy Lywydd, the Welsh Government is supportive of many aspects of this motion, and we're currently progressing work to address many of the issues raised—valid issues. We think we have the powers that we need, but we do wish to work together across all parties to make sure, when we update the plan, we take every opportunity to make it as effective as we can. Diolch. 

I call on Janet Finch-Saunders to reply to the debate. 

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank the Members that have contributed and the Deputy Minister, despite his negativity on this, but there we go. I'd like to just reiterate Joyce Watson's comments about our Welsh seas are far much larger than our land mass, the risk and the benefits of a blue carbon sequestration, and the other merits really, and, in particular, I think, her comments about Ukraine, and the impact of the war on Ukraine and the need for us to really now look at locally produced renewable energy. 

I congratulate Samuel Kurtz on being the champion for the Atlantic grey seal. I'm the champion for the harbour porpoise. But, as regards the Atlantic grey seals, we have them here in Pigeon Cove on the Great Orme, and we also have them in Penrhyn Bay. We—. Sorry. Jane Dodds mentioning the pink sea fan and about nationally scarce and vulnerable, and also the need to expand tidal energy, and I think that's a given—. Rhun makes an important contribution about the important principles and exploiting resources from our marine sea beds, whilst making sure that the conservation duties are adhered to. And I'm glad that you mentioned Morlais, Rhun, because I think that is a really innovative project. 

The Deputy Minister mentioned about the Welsh marine plan, but, as we've seen, whilst we're sat here—well, I'm sat here—talking about it, these species are going in decline, we are losing biodiversity and marine conservation does need protecting. By putting this into legislation we have a chance, really, of protecting our seas and our species, whilst, at the same time, encouraging developers to come in and extract renewable energy sources from that. I firmly believe that this does need to be in law, because we've had years now of us going nowhere on this. So, I'll leave it at that for now, but thank you to everybody for listening and for everyone's contributions. Diolch. 

The proposal is to note the motion. Does any Member object? No. The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.