Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:24 pm on 7 February 2023.
Two written statements, please, Trefnydd, firstly with regard to Madrid, which is trying to encircle itself with a 75 km urban forest to mitigate the climate emergency and to improve biodiversity. There's a similar idea being put forward by campaigners here in Cardiff for the city to become a new park city, with large country parks on the outskirts of the city in areas such as St Fagans, Caerphilly mountain, the Rhymney river and St Mellons. Most of the Cardiff parks up to date were opened during the Victorian age, so there haven't been new parks in Cardiff for many decades. This would develop natural flood defences, improve air quality and absorb greenhouse emissions generated by the city. Could we have a written statement by the Government on this welcome initiative?
Secondly, could we have a written statement with regard to Cardiff's replacement local development plan? I had a very interesting meeting recently with the Radyr and Morganstown local development plan group on this issue. There are suggestions that large green spaces can be built inside the replacement local development plan in view of the lower-than-expected population growth in the last census and the environmental impact of excess run-off rainwater and flooding. So, could we please have a written statement on that also? Diolch.