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 4:48 pm on 17 May 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 4:48, 17 May 2022

Diolch. Minister, thank you for your statement today. I have the fortune of representing the beautiful town or village of Llanfair Talhaearn in Clwyd West, but, unfortunately, that is a community that has experienced flooding on five occasions since 2008. On each of those occasions, there have been reports and investigations and recommendations made, including recommendations in 2012 to undertake some capital investment on the flood defences in that community. They're only just now implementing the second phase of those recommendations and the works that need to be done. It's 10 years on, Minister, and, in that intervening period, that community has been flooded again, most recently, of course, in early 2020, in February 2020. What action is the Welsh Government going to take through this review and anything that comes out of it to make sure that, when recommendations are made to improve defences, they're actually delivered in a timely manner, not a decade? You said you don't want this review to take a decade to do its work; I don't want NRW to be taking a decade to implement much-needed improvements to flood defences in villages like Llanfair Talhaearn in the future.