6. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Reducing vulnerability to flood risk and the independent review of the 2020-21 flooding

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:25 pm on 17 May 2022.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:25, 17 May 2022

Thank you, Janet. Just to start right where you finished, no, I don't think that at all. I think one of the things that we absolutely need to do is integrate this work, and the idea that you have a separate quango for every single bit of climate change where it stands alone and does it's own thing—I just think that's a recipe for absolute disaster, myself. So, I don't agree with that at all. I think what's really important is to have a national strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management, which is what we have, that we do that alongside all the partners that need to be engaged in that, and that's a very wide variety of partners, and that we understand what those mitigation measures look like.

It's easy to say that we need to do everything we can to mitigate these risks, but then every time we come up with a mitigation, to oppose each individual one. So, for example, surface water drainage schemes, which make a huge difference to surface water problems, have been consistently said by your party to inhibit development of housing and other construction projects. But they're absolutely essential if we're going to stop the flood risk that we have and, indeed, the flood storm risk of overflows into our precious rivers and so on. We have to accept that, if we want to have these schemes, the mitigations are not always optimal for every single sector of society and we all have to adapt to them. Likewise, we cannot continue to just build on floodplains and expect that to be perfectly fine. We have to adapt our strategies for building, living and using our planet's resources accordingly.

I'm also a little bit bemused by the start of your contribution, Janet, because you seem to be saying that we weren't having the review, when the whole point of my statement is to announce the review that you'd asked for. So, I'm a little bit confused by that. But just to say again, I'm delighted that Professor Evans is undertaking this entirely independent review. Obviously, one of the things she'll look at is whether the system is fit for purpose, how it integrates together and what the optimal outcome should be. I look forward to receiving her recommendations, alongside the Plaid Cymru designated Member, and being able to act on those recommendations accordingly.