Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 8 February 2023.
Thank you, Joel. As I said, we are very aware of what the position on each site is. We understand what the difficulties have been. The remaining sites, the ones that are not yet completed, all have either a complex management structure and it's taken us some time to get all of the consents in place for the intrusive surveys—I believe we've got all but two of those sorted now—and the others require the closure of a main thoroughfare or there is some other utility issue associated with actually commencing the work. So, it's not that we need to put an end date on it; we understand what the issue for each of the buildings is and we're working with them to make sure that we can overcome that, including speaking to local authorities and engaging in that way.
I'm very aware that this is taking longer than we'd thought. Unfortunately, it's even more complicated than I thought, and I get absolutely trolled on social media every time I say that, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it is complex. We will be bringing forward a building reform Bill, which makes it a lot less complex and makes people step up to their responsibilities. I hope that the Senedd will help us pass that when it comes forward. We are learning a lot from the complexity that we're encountering in doing this in terms of helping us craft the Bill and make sure that the system that we put in place for the future makes sure that this does not happen again.