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 4:39 pm on 17 May 2022.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:39, 17 May 2022

Well, thank you, and, obviously, I can't comment on individual planning applications—I don't have all of the detail and it wouldn't be appropriate for me as the planning Minister—but I do take the point you're making. I mean, there are a number of things to consider when developing on a floodplain, which is what you're describing, of course, right next to a river. I mean, I'll take this opportunity, Llywydd, to say that I'm delighted that the First Minister has agreed to chair a summit on the phosphate and building on floodplain issue that is a real issue right across Wales, and that that summit will take place on the first day of the Royal Welsh Show in July, and he will chair that with a number of experts and stakeholders coming together in that summit, to try and find a mutually acceptable way forward that will require compromise on all sides, but we absolutely need to get to the bottom of what is a very difficult issue in very large parts of Wales. So, I take that opportunity to make that announcement, and I'm delighted that he's agreed to do that.

What we will also be doing is looking, as part of these reviews, to see whether things like what the planning guidance is for floodplain development and so on can be reviewed, whether things like not developing at the ground floor and developing above are a solution or aren't. And, to be honest, that's really complicated, it's not just about the flooding, it's also about if you put residential in there, you're putting sewage and water and so on in there, you're putting extra surface drainage and so on, even if the footprint doesn't increase, so there's a whole issue about the resilience of the systems around that, and that's what the phosphate issue is about and so on. So, I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated.

But I do understand the frustration entirely. One of the other things we're looking into—. I suspended the technical advice note 15 implementation. One of the reasons that we did that was we wanted to look again at what is the impact of flood defences when they're put in place in river catchment areas, whether they should then allow the development further downstream or not and in what circumstances, what level of flood defence do you need, what does it protect against and so on, because our major cities and conurbations across Wales and many of our thriving market towns and other settlements are built on the coast on the mouth of a river, because that's where the trade happens and so on. That poses big problems for us. We don't want, obviously, to sterilise the development of those vibrant cities, towns and settlements right across Wales, but at the same time we need to both protect them from the climate emergency and from the day-to-day hazards of flooding, and we need to protect our rivers from the phosphate and nitrate problems that we have. So, it's a really complicated problem. We are looking at various aspects of it, and I'm delighted the First Minister will be chairing that summit in the Royal Welsh.