The next item is the statement by the Minister for Climate Change on flooding, and I call on the Minister to make her statement—Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. Over the past week, Wales has been impacted by continuous heavy rain. In some locations, we have seen over six weeks' rain in the first two weeks of the year. This fell on already saturated ground, increasing surface water run-off and resulting in very high river levels across Wales. Since Wednesday, Natural Resources Wales have issued 50 flood warnings and 95 flood alerts. This is yet more evidence that our weather is becoming increasingly volatile and it is due to climate change. Rainfall events are becoming more severe and intense, and they are occurring more regularly.

Sadly, we have received reports of 84 properties being impacted by flooding, as well as impacts on both rail and road. Flooding is a distressing experience for residents, business owners and communities as a whole, but especially so for householders who have seen their homes flooded. My thoughts, and those of my colleagues, are with all those who have been affected. Under such circumstances, I implore householders to double-check their insurance cover and look into the flood risk to their property. We know that levels of understanding and preparedness vary greatly amongst our communities. It is important that all residents know where to access flood information, such as Natural Resources Wales's 'check your flood risk' web pages, and we continue to work our risk management authorities to increase flood awareness.

But whilst there have been impacts, we should keep in mind that the flooding could have been much worse without the efforts of the emergency services, local authorities, NRW staff, transport agencies, and volunteers. It is sometimes easy to forget, but all of our infrastructure requires people to maintain it and keep it functioning, especially during severe weather. Without their efforts, the impacts to our communities could have been much worse. On behalf of the Government, I want to express my gratitude to all those who helped in the response to the recent event.

But it is important to remember also that risk management authorities don't just respond to floods. They are constantly working to improve our flood risk management infrastructure, investing in new schemes supported by Welsh Government funding, while continuously working to improve our historic assets. They must also deal with the legacy of our mining heritage, such as disused coal tips, in the face of increasing risk from climate change.

During the previous Senedd term, the Welsh Government invested £390 million in flood and coastal erosion risk management. This has helped to reduce the risk of flooding for over 47,000 properties, by creating and managing infrastructure that would have been tested in recent weeks. We will always strive to do more. Our programme for government has a clear and ambitious target: we will provide additional flood protection to over 45,000 homes in Wales. This will not be an easy task, and requires significant investment. As we look to meet this target, I am pleased to confirm that our coastal risk management programme continues to deliver at pace. We have five coastal schemes currently in construction, at Porthcawl, Colwyn Bay, Penrhyn Bay, Aberdyfi and Mumbles. Two further schemes at Rhyl and Prestatyn, totalling £92 million, were awarded their construction funding in December, and we will see a further six schemes approaching construction over the next year, including Cardiff, Aberaeron and Hirael bay.

We don't just invest in large schemes. This year, our small-scale works grant received 90 different applications, totalling £3.8 million. The scheme provides local authorities with funding to address smaller, more discrete flooding problems. We estimate that 3,100 properties will benefit from this grant funding. We are also increasing our investment in natural flood risk management. One of our programme for government commitments was to deliver nature-based solutions in all major river catchments. We are investing more than £3 million through our natural flood management programme, as we look to utilise natural processes to store, slow and infiltrate flood waters to reduce flood risk. We estimate this will benefit around 800 properties, whilst also providing much wider benefits such as improved water quality, wildlife habitats and better land management.

For coal tip safety, we continue to deliver a programme of work in collaboration with our partners. We are committed to introducing new legislation during this Senedd to establish a consistent approach to the management, monitoring and oversight of disused tips throughout Wales. This will help protect communities and ensure people can feel safe and secure in their own homes. We continue to commission the Coal Authority to inspect higher rated disused coal tips. The fifth round of inspections is currently in progress. We have a funding programme in place to support local authorities to carry out any maintenance and capital works that have been identified from the inspection programme. For example, our funding is supporting RCT's tip remediation works on the Tylorstown tip. And last week, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council also announced it has commenced work to improve the management of surface water drainage at Wattstown national tip.

And we are not complacent. While we constantly invest in new flood schemes, we know we must learn from every flood event. This is because we are constantly seeking to improve our ways of working. The Wales independent flood and coastal erosion committee, chaired by Mr Martin Buckle, has taken forward two separate reviews prescribed by our national strategy for flood and coastal risk management. The first review considered the resource challenges faced by our risk management authorities. The review found that, despite sustained, ongoing investment, the flood risk management sector was experiencing a skills gap. This skills gap was evident in both the public and private sectors. The report includes recommendations on how this issue can be addressed, and I look forward to working with the committee to develop options to address this challenge.

The committee's second review was into the current legislation that underpins our flood risk management policy. The extreme nature of the 2020-21 storms has stepped up the debate around delivery, particularly with regard to roles and responsibilities. I recognise that the legislation around flood risk management is robust, but not perfect. I will continue to work with the committee on any potential improvements that can be made as we seek to address the challenges posed by climate change.

Llywydd, this has been a challenging week for all of the people and organisations who work to keep us safe from flooding, but especially for those householders and businesses who have been impacted. My thoughts are with them at this time. Diolch.

Janet Finch-Saunders.

Diolch, Llywydd, and a happy new year.

Wales, of course, is not alone in being hit very hard as climate change continues to worsen, and that, in effect, causes a lot of the problems that you've mentioned in terms of flooding. Last week alone, on just one evening, a total of 27 flood warnings and 43 flood alerts were issued as downpours flooded fields and closed many of our roads. As Dr Paul Jennings said on Sunday,

'Our roads, railways and settlements are hopelessly inadequate to face the challenges ahead'.

There's no denying there has been considerable investment. Between 2016 and 2021, the Welsh Government invested £390 million in helping to manage flood risk, and this financial year it is true that revenue funding for the flood risk management and water revenue BEL increased by around £12 million, whilst capital funding increased by £21 million. Nonetheless, Andrew Morgan, leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, has made it very clear that more sustainable investment is now needed, as responding to flooding incidents is now actually having a direct negative impact on councils' resources. He has made the cost of not having that investment very clear. Over 20 properties were flooded, unfortunately, through culverts being overwhelmed because of the volume of water, because of debris washed off the mountains. So, it goes to show they do still need that investment. Rhondda is a prime example of the situation that we have in Wales that needs turning on its head. Whilst more than £14 million has been spent on infrastructure upgrades in Rhondda Cynon Taf since storm Dennis in 2020, £20 million has been spent just on storm repairs over the same time period. Now, as a climate change committee, we've made this very clear in several reports. The Welsh Government should change its approach to revenue allocation for local authorities and take account of current and projected future flood risk. So, Minister, can you clarify that revenue allocation for local authorities in 2023-24 will be based on both current and a new projected flood risk?

We are now eight months on from the announcement of an independent review of flooding events across Wales during the winter of 2021. Professor Elwen Evans KC has been tasked with establishing key findings, shared concerns, lessons learned, successes and good practice, as well as identifying areas for improvement. So, has Professor Evans indicated by when the review will conclude, and has she given any preliminary recommendations for the Welsh Parliament to consider now? Undoubtedly, there are lessons we can all learn and measures that we must all take some responsibility for. However, we do need to see that review. 

We have hundreds of ordinary watercourses across Wales where riparian owners have absolutely no idea what their own responsibilities are. In fact, in my own constituency, there are sections of riverside land with no identified owners. So, riparian responsibilities are going ignored. There is a risk to overlooking tributaries and streams. But, as we know in Aberconwy, they can actually be the real cause of some devastating flooding. So, what action are you going to take to ensure that all riparian owners are identified and that they know their duties and their duties are upheld?

Finally, as you will be aware, the Welsh Government has spent £4.25 million on Gilestone Farm. My colleague James Evans MS courageously captured first-hand evidence of the site during a storm, which now shows it almost completely under water. So, Minister, can you explain how on earth can it be safe for your Welsh Government to host events there and whether, in your procuring of this—[Interruption.] Sorry, I'm speaking to the Minister, not the Deputy. And whether flood risk was considered at any point before you made such an investment. Diolch, Llywydd.

Thank you, Janet. So, on the budget issues, I can tell you that the impact of the investments that we have made has been very considerable. So, for example, over the course of the most recent heavy rainfall, the flood defences in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which you referenced, prevented flooding to over 800 properties. The recently completed defence schemes in Park Lane, Aberdare, and Nant y Pentre alone reduced the risk to over 320 properties, and the defences in Rhydyfelin, Abercynon and Mountain Ash provided protection to 133, 123 and 144 properties respectively. The flood gates also helped reduce the risk for properties in Edward Street in Ystrad Mynach and a number of others. We will invest over £71 million in flood and coastal risk management this year, which is the highest annually ever, and the three-year capital budget totals £102 million to allow us to better plan our investment.  

But, the bottom line, Janet, is that if we didn't have to pay for the coal tip safety programme, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, we would have many hundreds of millions of pounds more. So, the best thing you could do for your constituents and the people of Wales is to get the Government at UK level, which is run by your party, to step up to its really serious—really serious—obligations to protect all of the people of the UK from the difficulties of coal tip safety. Those coal tips are a legacy of all our shared industrial past, not of the Welsh devolved Government. It is an outrage that the UK Government does not do that, and I absolutely defy you to tell me that we should move budget from somewhere else when we've got to cover off a programme that the UK Government should quite clearly be paying for. So, I'll take no lessons from you on how to do budgeting, for that or anything else. 

In terms of the inquiries, that's part of our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru. That is a conversation that is ongoing. Elwen Evans has to be allowed to complete her inquiry as it goes ahead. No doubt, the spokesperson from Plaid Cymru will want to go into that further, Llywydd, so I won't go into that in any greater detail.

Well, good timing. Heledd Fychan.

Diolch Llywydd. I welcome the statement today from the Minister, and in particular, my thoughts are also with those who were devastated by flooding. For any of us who have seen it first-hand, it is absolutely devastating. And, there are people to whom it has happened time and time again. Last week, there were two properties in my region that were affected twice—on Thursday and Saturday—and it’s just soul destroying. So, I think all of my statements today are made thinking of those people who can’t sleep every time it rains heavily now—that concern. And also for those businesses that can’t have insurance, or residents who simply have been costed out of insurance, despite a flood Re and such schemes.

I would like to ask a number of questions, please, Minister, because as we’ve said, this is an issue that is going to continue to affect communities across Wales because of the climate emergency. This isn’t something that is concerning for the future, but is evidence of climate change and its impact now. And we must do more, I believe, to support those living in at-risk communities.

You referenced the independent review rather than the inquiry. There is a distinction; I fought very hard for an inquiry, but was pleased that we were able to at least secure a review. But I would like clarity, Minister, in terms of how elected representatives will be able to submit evidence in terms of that review. I think it is crucial that work moves forward, and I know communities that have been affected yet again. Some of these that were devastated in 2020 and 2021 will, of course, want to submit more recent evidence, especially when there has been work, but that hasn’t perhaps proved successful.

Secondly, I would like to ask—. Following the devastating flooding of 2020, your predecessor emphasised the need for a national conversation and for greater support to be available for communities to become more resilient. I would like to ask: where is that direct support? Because the experience of communities across Wales that I’ve been speaking to is that it’s very ad hoc, it’s up to them, where you have people who are very proactive or may have expertise in this area, who are able to lead that as volunteers. There are some very effective schemes in place with flood action groups, but perhaps for communities that are more vulnerable and perhaps don’t have that expertise, they feel that they’re being left without that support. And something that was questioned at the time was, yes, we agree that a national conversation is needed, we won’t be able to protect every home and business, unfortunately, but how do we have that national conversation, and who is going to lead that conversation? Because two years on, it hasn’t happened, and I think we urgently need that.

We’ve referenced before as a party the need for a Welsh flood forum as we see a national flood forum in England, a Scottish flood forum in Scotland, and what they do is go into communities to help with setting up things like flood action groups and providing that emergency response on the ground. That includes counselling, support and advice around housing and all sorts of things, because what we are also seeing now in many of the communities affected in 2020 and 2021 are perhaps the impact, because homes weren’t dried out properly; people couldn’t afford it because they didn’t have insurance, and that’s now creating huge health problems in terms of respiratory diseases. So, therefore, there is that need, I think, on the ground for a direct response. So, I would like to know where that national conversation is, who’s going to be leading on that, and how that is going to facilitate, then, that resilience. Because I think just repeating ‘communities need to become more resilient’ doesn’t actually help them in terms of becoming resilient, and I don’t think it will take a lot of funding in terms of that support.

Another point I would like to raise is what you referenced in terms of the skills gap, and this was also emphasised by Audit Wales in their report published before Christmas. Worryingly, it stated in that report that some local authorities aren’t even able to put in bids for the funding that is available, because they don’t have the staff and the expertise to develop those bids. Therefore, Audit Wales emphasised—quite a rare thing to say in the Senedd—that this isn’t a matter that the funding isn’t available; the funding is there, but local authorities aren’t able to apply for the funding because of the skills gap. And worryingly as well, not all local authorities across Wales are able to implement the schemes either, which means that they’re not able to avail of the funding through the co-operation agreement. Therefore, how are we addressing the skills gap you reference here? But, when we will receive an update as a Senedd, and are we assured that Natural Resources Wales have the number of staff to deal with flooding? They mentioned that, after the 2020 floods, at least 70 more staff members were needed. Are we assured that they have those staff in place, and how are we going to ensure that we are doing everything possible to ensure that no-one goes through flooding unnecessarily? Diolch.

Diolch, Heledd. Just in terms of the review, as was part of the discussion between us, there are a number of different types of review going on. I just referenced the two by the flood and coastal erosion committee, for example. So, Professor Elwen Evans KC's review fits into a pattern of other pieces of work that are going on, so just to reassure that it's not intended to be a catch-all, and I know you know that.

She will be writing out to relevant elected representatives asking them for input at an appropriate time in her review. She's got to be allowed to get on with it, it's independent, obviously, although it's been commissioned jointly between us under the co-operation agreement. I anticipate that that will not be very much longer now, and it's up to her how she does that, though the terms of reference are pretty clear that she has to do that. I would be very surprised indeed if the Rhondda area wasn't a part of that, because that's obviously where much of the flooding has just occurred, and this is a review that we want to learn lessons from, not just from the past, but ongoing. I'm sure that there will be other many-times impacted areas of Wales that she'll want to discuss with elected representatives there. So, I anticipate that happening shortly. I don't have the actual date on me—well, I don't know the actual date, it's up to her, but that was something that she certainly discussed with myself and the designated Member for this purpose, so I'm sure that that's on its way.

What we want to do is learn lessons from those sets of reviews about how things are working on the ground and what improvements there will need to be. We know that there will need to be improvements, we wouldn't be asking for the reviews if we thought everything was tremendous. So, we will be wanting to look at those, digest them and then come forward with a set of improvements. One of the things that we are looking at is this whole flood awareness issue, so, again, I want to pay tribute to the people who've been out in all weathers across Wales from every single responder service, including NRW. I think we forget a little bit that the hard resource that we see in the river, the intervention, requires those people to be out making sure that it works. So, I do want to just make sure that we acknowledge the difficulty of their working conditions.

But also, it's just heartbreaking to have your house flooded, never mind if it's happening twice in three days. We absolutely know that, and that's why we've got this big investment programme, and, again, we've got an agreement in the co-operation agreement to put the coastal risk programme up—sorry, I've suddenly got a frog in my throat, excuse me—and that's very welcome. What is very good to see is that, in the response coming back from the local authorities this time, the properties the had been protected were protected. So, it's not like it didn't work, it's just that it's getting worse, so more properties keep getting into the flooding area. But the ones that were at risk last time and had the flood defences put in were protected, so that's something to be grateful for, although, as we see, climate change is accelerating, so we need to expand the programme.

I don't have any problem at all with the suggestion about looking at flood action groups, only to say that we are just waiting on the review outcomes so that we can go through them, and I'm sure that that will be one of the things that we consider. The skills gap is also something we've been considering, as is the insurance. Vaughan Gething and I met to discuss the issues around insurance, particularly commercial insurance, very recently. I think it might have been yesterday, but my time sense is terrible, it might have been the day before—well, it wouldn't have been the day before, would it, so it was probably Monday or Friday, anyway. We will be approaching the UK Government about putting in place a similar scheme for businesses, although it's more complicated for commercial properties. I don't know why I'm suddenly coughing. [Interruption.] So, I share your concern and want to reassure you that we are doing what you've asked. Sorry.

Thank you for that statement, Minister. In December, the Red Cross launched its new report, 'Every time it rains', which highlighted that more needs to be done to support communities to better prepare for and recover from flooding. The report raises several points, but most concerning for me were the findings that awareness of flood risk among those living in areas that are at risk of flooding is low, as you've mentioned, Minister. Lack of awareness impacts on many households having inadequate flood insurance and leads people to being unaware of the actions that they can take to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

Some communities, like Afon Village in my constituency, have flood volunteer groups, who help alert residents to flood risk, liaise with authorities on blockages in rivers and give out information on what to do with valuables, amongst many other things. We've seen, over the last few years, that flooding and extreme weather events are increasingly becoming the norm, and the emotional and financial cost after a devastating event can be huge, so resources can be better placed in building resilience in the first place. So, what actions are the Welsh Government taking to ensure that those living in areas at risk of flooding in Wales know what to do to prepare for a flood? You've mentioned the review, but what more can be done to promote flood volunteer groups to expand to include more communities that are now at risk?

Thank you, Jayne. I will be meeting the British Red Cross very shortly to discuss their report with them; we're very interested in the findings. And indeed, we're interested in working with all groups right across Wales who've got something to add to this plan of action, really, because there's no argument with any of us that we need to do this as fast as possible, and we need to employ every single lever we have to make sure that people are as flood aware as they possibly can be, and that, if they are flooded out, they absolutely understand what to do to recover as fast as possible and who to reach out to for support. But that needs to also be happening—. As soon as you know you're in a flood-risk property, you need to be able to understand what needs to happen to get the protection that you require. So, I absolutely agree with you. I'm meeting them shortly to discuss it. I'd be more than happy to discuss that meeting with you once it's happened.

Minister, the floods that have, yet again, devastated people's lives don't just take a toll on carpets and wallpaper. When dirty water is cleaned away, the stains aren't just physical. People are left traumatised, frightened and unsure of what the next heavy rainfall will bring. We've already heard from Jayne Bryant that the red cross's report, 'Every time it rains', talks about the need to increase awareness of flood risks. I do commend the report to you.

I'd like to press you, please, on what psychological support will be offered to people who've been flooded again. I know of at least one street in my region where flooding has been caused by the same reason as in early 2020: a blocked culvert. If the same thing keeps happening, how can these residents trust that their properties will be safe in the future? And finally, what counselling services will be made available in schools in affected areas, please, because particularly very little children can find these incidents really deeply damaging? Thank you. 

Thank you, Delyth. That is absolutely right. I've met myself with many of the families that have been affected, and it's absolutely right that they are very severely impacted. One family told me that their three-year-old was very scared every time it rained even normally because they'd been flooded and she was worried about it. So, it's a real problem.

The first thing to do is to make sure that we manage to get a programme in place that extends the flood protection to properties, so that we can minimise that risk as much as is humanly possible. I will certainly speak to my colleague Jeremy Miles about doing something in the schools in particularly affected areas—I think that's a very good idea, to just discuss exactly how the children feel about it and what can be done. So, I'm certainly very happy to do that. 

We have got the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales—I should have mentioned earlier—also looking at this from the point of view of resilience for infrastructure. But infrastructure includes social infrastructure as well, so I'd be very interested to see what they come up with. We are very aware of the society and community impacts of this. This isn't just, as you say, about carpets and so on, although that can be pretty devastating. It is absolutely about the psychological effect of having your home no longer feel like your home, so we certainly do get that.

I've visited a number of homes that have been flooded and people have kept a small mark on the wall to show where it got to, because it's traumatising for them. So, I completely accept that, Delyth, and I think we really do want to work with our communities to make sure (a) that they're as resilient as possible, and (b) that the recovery process is as fast as is humanly possible. And I've already mentioned that we'll be working with the UK Government to do something about the insurance situation. The Flood Re insurance is available for domestic properties, but, actually, it's got a time limit on it, so we need to make sure that there's another programme in place. And as I said, commercial property currently isn't covered by it, and there's a range of issues around the difficulty of that. But that shouldn't be impossible to overcome, so we've asked for meetings with the insurance sector about how to do that, in conjunction with the UK Government, because, frankly, the market isn't big enough in Wales for us to be able to make any impact, so we'll work with them to make sure that we can get a suitable scheme in place. In the meantime, we've asked our local authorities to assess the damage for local businesses and to work with them to make sure they can recover.

Minister, over the weekend areas in Newport East saw flooding, such as Llanwern, Langstone and St Julians, which unfortunately is not an uncommon occurrence, and it has become more frequent over the last few years, with many residents and businesses contacting myself and my office. One of the issues, which I’m sure you’re familiar with, Minister, is finding out who is responsible and who is accountable for flooding when it comes to land use and land management, and very often it’s difficult for householders and businesses to achieve that. On the one hand it’s Natural Resources Wales, it’s possibly Welsh Water, possibly Network Rail, local authorities, private development, and I just wonder, Minister, whether there’s anything you’re considering in terms of bringing potential organisations with responsibilities together in those sorts of circumstances to bottom out who is responsible, because it's an ongoing situation, it’s not a one-off, and it needs to be resolved for the future.

One other matter, Minister—you mentioned the use of the natural environment, which I think is excellent and needs to be done to a greater extent. We’ve seen some attempts to manage hard surfaces in urban areas—householders' and others'—is there any more that you’re considering, so that we have fewer of those hard surfaces that allow water to immediately run off, rather than to absorb, hold and slowly release?

Thank you, John. I agree it’s a complex picture, if you like, of who’s responsible for what. But, actually, if you’re a householder who’s experienced flooding, you should contact your local authority, and they should be perfectly capable of putting you through to anyone else, but it will be them for 98 per cent of people. It will only be people who have very specific circumstances who will not be being helped by the local authority in the first instance. So, it definitely is the local authority.

The local authority also needs to contact us—I notice that Newport isn’t on my list, I’m afraid. So, they need to make sure that they’re contacting us as the flood management authority to make sure that they’re taking advantage of Welsh Government assistance as well, and I’ll certainly make sure that we do that the other way round in this instance.

The other thing is to say that we are very keen to make sure that people are as resilient as possible in the run-up, in that they understand where to look for the flood alerts and how to make sure that they know what’s coming. So, obviously, most people access social media for news and TV news and so on. The weather reports were pretty straightforward; unless you were just not looking at anything at all, you would have seen them. But you wouldn’t necessarily have known where to look to see if your particular street was impacted, so I agree with you that we need to do a lot more to make sure that people understand how to get those alerts. We will be working with the local authorities to make sure that we can get an alert system in place for properties that are impacted. It’s a difficulty, because there’s no getting away from the fact that this effect is spreading out.

So, I’m very pleased that the work that we’ve already done in communities that were experiencing flooding has worked, they’re protected, but you can see that climate change is accelerating. These have been extreme weather events, and we all remember that we've had the driest summer we’ve ever had just gone, so this water is impacting on land that has become suddenly saturated. That is a real problem in terms of how the land reacts to that impact of water. We’re really only just understanding ourselves what some of the impacts of that are for some of our land. So, we’ll need to work with our populations to make sure that we’re on top of that, and I’ve already referenced a number of the reviews that are taking place—because we’ve seen it coming, we’ve got the reviews in place, so we need to get those now, the results of those, so that we can work through them.

If you have very specific instances, John, of constituents, do please write in and let me know. There may be specific circumstances that we can address more particularly.

Finally, Carolyn Thomas.

Diolch. I welcome this statement, and also the investment in coastal defence in north Wales, which is significant. Flooding, like rainfall, impacts on our highway infrastructure, roads, bridges and pavements, and we’ve seen what’s happened in north Wales, with landslides in Flintshire, Newbridge and Llanerch Bridge that have cost millions to put right. Heavy rainfall also power washes away highway services, causes potholes and blocked gullies, which are a nightmare for local authorities, as you’ve mentioned, and residents alike. I was disappointed to see that the resilient roads fund, which was £20 million, has now been cut to zero in the draft budget. I saw that £20 million has now gone to local government for decarbonisation, and I'm just wondering if it's the same funding, but being shifted. And also would you consider a slice of the local transport fund being used possibly for local authorities towards resilience? Thank you. 

I'm not too sure which budget you're referring to there, Carolyn, I'm afraid. So, there's a very specific flood management budget, and it's ring-fenced for flood management for NRW. Local authorities have it as part of the revenue support grant, but they are expected to put a programme in place. So, I'm happy to discuss the specifics with you there. But it's not a mix and match of budgets—it's a very specific budget. 

I just wanted to say—actually, in response to John Griffiths as well as to yourself—there is already in place in Wales the need to actually obtain planning consent to pave over your front garden. This is widely ignored, I have to say, and I'm planning to remind local authorities that that's the case. And I do think we need to have a programme of awareness and alertness for people to understand what happens if they make their front gardens impermeable. Joyce Watson has been talking about this for many years now, but I think it's becoming more and more obvious that people need to understand their own contribution to some of the things that are happening locally to them. If you stop your garden being able to absorb water, that water just pours straight into the gullies, taking with it anything that it's picked up along the way, and it causes the kind of blockages that you're talking about. So, I do think people need to be aware of that. If you want to park a car on your front garden and that's what it's for, there are many permeable surfaces that are perfectly appropriate for that, and allow some kind of biodiversity to thrive as well. It's not necessary to put a hard paving on it. 

But we are working very closely with our local authorities, Carolyn, to understand what the wider impact of the flooding and the extreme weather events that we've had will be. This, unfortunately, is not going to be an isolated incident. We know that last year was the warmest year on record. It's also rapidly becoming the wettest winter on record. So, I'm afraid this is a real measure of the times we live in, and we will have to find ways of becoming much more resilient, both in our relationships and in our response. 

Thank you, Minister.