6. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Biodiversity

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:28 pm on 4 October 2022.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:28, 4 October 2022

Absolutely, Joyce. So, on the peatland programme, I was delighted to be able to announce, alongside Lesley, the acceleration of the peatland restoration project. The projects that I've visited already in Wales have been heart-warming, really, amazing in the dedication of the people doing them and actually in the transformation of the landscape. So, I was very, very delighted to do that.

I am planning to lobby the incoming UK Government Minister—I haven't had a chance to meet yet, but I think I'm right in saying I'm meeting him on 24 October. I would like to see peat banned for use in any domestic setting. We don't have the power to do that, and it's one of the things that I'm very concerned about and I'm going to be having a chat with several UK Ministers about. I do think there's a big labelling issue. So, I'm sure that you're a keen gardener, Joyce, and I am as well, but it's really hard to make sure that the plant that you're buying in from the garden centre or a grower isn't in peat. Actually, even if you ask, they won't tell you often, and I think they should be obliged to tell you that that's what the growing medium is. So, I'd like to see the UK Government change the labelling requirements for products like peat.

There will be circumstances in which a local community, for heritage reasons and so on, still cuts peat, but, for the most part, commercial peat cutting should be stopped. So, I'm going to be lobbying the UK Government very heavily on that, but in the meantime, I'm very happy that we're restoring our own peatlands as fast as we can, and this is a step change.

Of course, the reason that we're able to justify it, apart from the fact that it's the right thing to do, is because, actually, if we don't do this, we will not get to net zero by 2050, because of the carbon sequestration that the peatlands bring, as well as all the nature benefits you mentioned, Joyce. I'm just delighted that we've been able, between us, to do this. As I say, it's the right thing to do, and it's the beginning of doing it bigger, better and faster, really.

Then, on the connectivity, Carolyn worked with us to talk with local authorities about 'stop the mow', No Mow May, and all that kind of stuff. One of my big bugbears, I have to say—I'm seriously thinking of doing this, I'm wondering whether I should canvass opinion—is that I do wish these gardening programmes on the telly, which I'm terribly addicted to, would show a few more scruffy gardens with woodpiles, and not cropped grass and decking. [Interruption.] Well, yes, because yours is probably full of invertebrates. I have a big row in my village all the time. My garden is as scruffy as is possible to be—who knew that was going to get trendy, but anyway—but my garden is full of insect life. It's absolutely full of insect life because they've got places to go and stuff to eat and all the rest of it. And consequently it's also full of birds, because they've got things to eat. I have neighbours whose lawns are cut with a nail scissors every Tuesday morning and they don't have any wildlife in their garden at all.

I just think this obsession with neatness has got to be got rid of. That goes for our local authorities and our hedges and edges. I recently wrote to the incoming administration in Monmouth to say that I was sure they hadn't done it especially for a visiting Minister but I was currently following a hedge cutter down the road, which was cutting off every single seed head all the way along. I was not delighted with this as a policy, and I sent a photograph to go with it. So, I'm hoping that that will galvanize them into saying, 'Why are you doing this? Stop doing it.'

There are some places where, for highway safety reasons, you do need to crop back some of the hedges. But, actually, you will know, as well as I do, all of you, that driving down one of those lanes with the most beautiful canopy over the top of it is glorious, isn't it? You get all kinds of wildlife and plants and flowers down there you don't see anywhere else. So, trying to change our public authorities' view, and, frankly, our inveterate gardeners' view, of what looks good is really, really important. I expect you all to go out there and be evangelical about it, and I'm planning to visit you to see if your garden is scruffy enough.