1. How is the Welsh Government supporting communities across South Wales Central to access community green spaces? OQ59118

High-quality green spaces and parks provide opportunities for healthy recreation, support biodiversity and reduce air pollution. The Welsh Government’s Local Places for Nature programme, and the enabling natural resources and well-being grant, have funded the creation of hundreds of local spaces, and our green flags award scheme also drives up quality. 

Thank you, Minister. Certainly, we are all aware, as you just listed, of the major benefits of community green spaces, in terms of health and well-being, biodiversity, air quality, and so on. Despite this, a number of green spaces are being lost, including in areas across our capital city, due to various developments. As you will know from previous questions from other Members, a number of campaigners want to see investment in new parks to accompany such developments, as well as community spaces for growing food.

So, how is the Welsh Government working with local authorities to ensure that such schemes are part of their local development plans, and align with their commitment to act on the climate crisis?

Thank you. You do raise a very important point, and obviously my colleague the Minister for Finance and Local Government does have these discussions with local authorities, and I know the Minister for Climate Change also does, with her planning hat on, in relation to LDPs. I go back to what I was saying about Local Places for Nature; it just shows how people do really appreciate the ability to be able to access green space from their doorstep, if you like, and obviously in somewhere like Cardiff, in a capital city, it's really important to preserve the green spaces that we have, but also to look at whether there are any opportunities for new ones.

Minister, research has shown that, during the pandemic, those with disabilities spent even less time out in green spaces and accessing nature than before. Whilst the vulnerability to COVID was a key factor, it has also been found that cognitive load had a detrimental impact, not to mention confusion of social arrangements, such as how many people could meet at one time, and whether or not physical contact like hugging was allowed. All of this led to an overall drop in confidence for some when accessing green spaces. Whilst physical accessibility is an important barrier that we must continue to address, we need to be ever mindful that barriers to access can be much more nuanced and subjective. Therefore, Minister, what assessment has the Welsh Government made of how it can rebuild the confidence of those with disabilities to re-engage with nature and our green spaces? Thank you.

Thank you. The Member raises the very important point, I think, that the COVID pandemic had a lot of harms apart from COVID itself, and clearly, as you say, people with some disabilities may not have been able to recognise the limits and the limitations that were put on people even outside, with how many people could get together to go for a walk, for instance. I'm not aware of any specific research that the Welsh Government is undertaking—I'm not sure who the Minister would be, in fact—but I will certainly look into it, and if there has been some analysis done, I will ask that particular Member to write to you.