, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Okay, thank you, Mark.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Thank you. I know that Mark wanted to come back in. I'm happy—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Thank you. With that in mind, I'll just go back to the point that a number of Members have put to you: because of how dispersed or possibly diluted these powers are because they are different bodies that need to take these decisions, do you think that there…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Was there any role that the Coal Authority could have taken to intervene to stop this water void from growing? When the pumps were turned off, was there anything the Coal Authority could have done to go in and to make sure this didn't happen?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Thank you for that and forgive me for having interrupted.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Forgive me interrupting. But it may be a risk to the public if the water void grows, then, if the walls of the pit—well, not the pit, but if the walls of the site were to fail, that that could be a risk, couldn't it, to either public health, or even risk of…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Although it may—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Well, please, God, I hope you're right on that. With Ffos-y-fran specifically, the council have suggested that, with restoration, there may be, in their words, a major reconfiguration of how that site could be restored, and that the void that has been filled…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Okay. But do you think that—again, picking up Mark's question about the possible overcomplication and the fact that there are so many different actors, and no ultimate arbitrator, or someone who can intervene, when they say, 'Right, this is getting beyond…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Good morning. I appreciate what you were just saying to Mark, but, evidently, the system that we have, things are going wrong, as you yourself have been acknowledging. The fact that the site operator was coaling for more than a year, illegally, or certainly…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Restoration of opencast mining sites - evidence session 1
Thanks for that.
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport: Priorities for Transport: Listening, partnership, making change
I'd like to set out some of the areas where we feel that there should be priority. I've raised already my concerns about the Welsh Government's decision not to pursue legal action about HS2. HS2's tracks don't travel into Wales at all, but we are paying for…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport: Priorities for Transport: Listening, partnership, making change
First, I'd like to welcome you once again to this role. I look forward to working with you.
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
I find it very troubling that the King, it seems, can ignore our laws in Wales. Are we saying that if a piece of land belongs to the sovereign it doesn't need to be managed sustainably? Or are we conceding that, by virtue of the monarch's nature, he can only…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
6. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government regarding the exemption of the monarch from the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023? OQ60958
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Transport
I hope that you will correct the record. I did explicitly say that this had been the failure of successive Governments in Cardiff as well as in Westminster, and I did say quite a number of ways in which this needs to improve. But Westminster does owe us those…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Transport
Diolch, Darren. There are plenty of ways in which, as I've said, we're not where we need to be, and that is a failure of successive Governments to do enough on this policy. But, in terms of roads, if we look at where those major roads go to and from in Wales…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Transport
I will.
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Transport
And where the train lines begin and end, where the roads run, that matters. The lack of connectivity between the north and south of Wales is a stark metaphor for how Westminster hinders our progress, because there can't be many other countries in the world…
, Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Transport
Thank you, Llywydd. I’m grateful for the opportunity to discuss these important issues, and I’m grateful to the Conservatives for bringing forward this debate, and I move the amendment. Major change is needed. We are not where we need to be when it comes to…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
Cabinet Secretary, I welcome you, sincerely, to this role. Now, this is an issue that the culture committee has expressed serious concerns about. The risk that's been outlined to the national collections themselves is stark. The associated risk to our…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
Thank you for that. Further doctor strikes have for now been averted, as the Welsh Government has finally shown that willingness to have meaningful negotiations with doctors on their pay, and I do welcome that. But when it comes to general practitioner…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office
6. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care about funding an appropriate level of pay in the health and care services? OQ60914
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of the meeting
Therefore, I propose in accordance with Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting. Are you content for us to do so? Yes, okay. We'll wait to hear that we are in private session.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Papers to note
Members, we move on now straight to papers to note, and we've received a number of papers over the recess, from item 4.1 in our packs to item 4.8 in your packs. Are you happy to note those papers? Yes, okay.
