3. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 21 March 2023.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:57, 21 March 2023

Thank you very much, Delyth, for that series of comments and questions. Obviously, we're in the same broad place here. I'm very glad to be bringing this forward. It will make a substantial difference to the people of Wales. It will also help our local authorities target their efforts, and that's very important too, and that goes directly to the heart of the social justice point you make, because what the local authorities will be asked to do is make a plan for their area that targets particular areas for particular measures. And that's where we will be able to get some of the social justice points in that you make.

It's a sad fact of life—it is in my own constituency—that, very frequently, the poorest people live in the places, and in my constituency in particular, where the air actually gathers. So, if you think of Swansea seafront, people drive along the front, and the air goes up and sits on the top of the hill, which is where some of the most socioeconomically deprived wards are. So, there's a real lack of social justice, even in the way that the wind works in that way. And so, the local authority will be asked to look at that and target it.

But we do need to have a lot more robust data than we have. We have a lot of data—and Janet read out quite a bit of it—but, actually, we don't have that much specific Wales data. We have a lot of UK data, we have a lot of England data, but we don't have a lot of Wales data. So, part of what this will do is it will allow us to deploy a whole series of measures across Wales to measure the data, to measure the air that we breathe. That's also the answer to one of your questions: that's how we'll know it's improved, because we will deploy a lot more tech, if you like, to be able to do that. And I've very specifically been looking to see how we can have a scale-uppable set of tech do that. So, we'll start with what we can afford, and then, as we can afford more, as we look to work with our local authorities, we'll put it in. So, you'd expect a local authority to be targeting those places it knows have the least good air quality.

The name matters because, first of all, we have to get the Llywydd to agree that we should introduce it, and, therefore, it has to be descriptive of what what we're doing, and we did want to include soundscapes for all kinds of very relevant reasons that I think you agree with. And secondly, actually, it's part of a suite of legislation that goes with it. So, in terms of access to Welsh law, it is part of the environment Act series. It will be known as the clean air Act, inevitably, but a formal title fits it into the suite of Acts that people would be expected to look at. This is not a stand-alone piece of legislation; it amends other legislation and it fits into a suite. So, it's quite important that people don't expect to find everything they want in the one Act, they would need to look wider. And so, actually, I think it's important. But, I think you're right, I think colloquially it will become known as the clean air Act.