, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Okay.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Thank you. So, we have the local government borrowing initiative now, £60 million going forward, for maintenance of the local road network. Now, there is a huge backlog. I believe, in 2020, it was £1.5 billion for local road infrastructure, the bridges, et…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Andy, I'm just going to have to jump in, because the Chair's telling me I've got to hurry up. Is that okay?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Local authorities agree that maintenance is better than pothole filling, and they've been struggling as well. So, what is your current estimate of the maintenance backlog on both the strategic road network and local authority roads?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
I agree with you—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Right.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
So, cyclists and walkers also use pavements and roads, don't they, most of the time, rather than designated cycle routes? So, it's an important issue. Your paper shows the revenue budget for the strategic road network—that's the Welsh Government maintained…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Can I just come in and say—? The Act hasn't achieved the results that we were expecting. Do you think that, sometimes, the standard was too strict? So, Ramblers—I mentioned this earlier—have suggested that, if we didn't have a tarmac surface, if it was just…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Yes. Local authority officers told me that applications were onerous, 20 pages long, and they didn't have the technical expertise to apply for the grant. So, to actually have the funding and to be able to actually deliver it with those officers would be…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Okay.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales
Okay. I just want to ask, will these be ring-fenced as they go to local authorities, or whatever, for highway grant spending or for these projects? Will they be ring-fenced, not just going to the whole pot?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Yes, for walking and cycling.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Because that will keep the pressure on then. If they don't, it will be right at the bottom of the agenda. And the Ramblers asked also regarding active travel routes. The standard is that they tarmac paths, and sometimes they go over grass verges, which annoys…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Enhancing trails, and very much valued. Local authorities have to deliver their rights of way, and again, they're cash strapped as well, so maybe not a high priority, which is a concern for me. Do they still have to deliver a rights of way improvement plan…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Their Paths to Wellbeing project was really good.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
My question is on countryside access. We've received a letter from the Ramblers, who are concerned that funding hasn't increased over the last three years for capital projects, and the New Economics Foundation found that while the public have legal rights to…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Okay, thank you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Oh, that's good, because I know some were concerned. They thought they might face redundancies in March this year, so that's really good. There should be some core funding going through.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Extended to 2027?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Which programme?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
I'm pleased to hear that—that if there was extra funding, you'd put some money back into it. The overall budget narrative identifies four priorities for the budget, including jobs and green skills, which is what we've just heard about. How is the need to…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
We heard evidence from the WLGA on the importance of the Local Places for Nature funding. Local authorities have been cash-strapped, they prioritise housing, social services, these front-line services. So, on biodiversity, ecology, without this funding, they…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Are you making representations to the UK Government to reinstate a UK nature restoration fund to replace the EU LIFE fund, which is sorely missed?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
How do you respond to calls from environmental groups for the Nature Networks fund to be enhanced with longer term funding? It's really tricky, isn't it, if you've got one-year funding, because schemes take a while and, like I said earlier, it takes a while…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
Do you take into consideration the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 as part of that exercise?
