Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:41 pm on 29 March 2022.
Thank you to Buffy Williams, and I recognise that the leadership role she's played in her own community in responding both to the floods and to the worry about the moving tip has been extraordinarily helpful. I hope her constituents are now reassured that the Tylorstown tip is having weekly inspections. So, this is being kept under very close eye, and the signs are very encouraging that the risk has lessened. As she said, significant work has gone in—some £20 million of investment—and tremendous partnership working, particularly with RCT council, where Councillor Andrew Morgan, again, really has once again stepped up to the plate and showed leadership and exceptional galvanising skills in bringing together the different agencies to focus on the task at hand. Also, the Coal Authority, as she mentioned, and the very helpful work the Law Commission has done in doing this report, and it's done it speedily and come up with a very practical set of recommendations—.
So, I think the story we have to tell two years on is a good one, and this is something the First Minister in particular feels very strongly and personally associated with. He has shown a great deal of personal leadership in this as well, and he is very clear that it is the obligation of this Senedd and this Government to make sure that the legacy of our industrial past is dealt with properly and that the opportunities are seized. But I think all of us in this party, and the message from all sides today has been that the UK Government must play its role, and I do hope that Members of the Senedd here from the Conservative Party will reflect that message back to their own colleagues. This needn't be a party political issue; this is something we should all unite behind and then see if we can collaborate on not seeing this as a negative legacy but as an opportunity to make these communities flourish again.