Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:49 pm on 26 October 2022.
Minister, as you are no doubt aware, a new sewage pumping station has been proposed on the community green space of Hailey park in Cardiff in order to service the needs of the new Plasdŵr development. Proposals have come about because the developers of the new housing estate have failed to make adequate provision, and the proposals have met with fierce opposition from local groups, such as YGC Rebel Mams, who have been forced to fundraise over £50,000 to take the local authority to judicial review, all because they want to protect the limited green spaces that they have available to them for their children and for their community, and because they feel that they shouldn't be forced to pick up the slack for Cardiff Council's inability to work with developers to plan out the needs of new housing estates. Minister, green spaces in Cardiff are at a premium, and Cardiff Council is determined with all its might to remove them whenever and wherever possible in the face of fierce resistance from residents who know that these spaces will be lost to them forever. So, I ask, Minister, will the Welsh Government commit to encouraging Cardiff Council not to lease the land at Hailey park to Welsh Water so that sewage works can be stopped, and will you offer a commitment that the Minister for Climate Change will work with local authorities to better plan developments, which in turn should stop them from removing the last of our community green spaces in our urban areas? Thank you.