Meeting Venue:
Hybrid – Committee room 4 Ty Hywel
and Video Conference via Zoom
Meeting date: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Meeting time: 09. - 14.30
This meeting can
be viewed
on Senedd TV at:
http://senedd.tv/en/12855
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Category |
Names |
|
Members of the Senedd: |
Llyr Gruffydd MS (Chair) Janet Finch-Saunders MS Huw Irranca-Davies MS Delyth Jewell MS Jenny Rathbone MS Joyce Watson MS |
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Witnesses: |
Sir David Henshaw, Natural Resources Wales Sarah Williams, Natural Resources Wales Peter Davies, Green Recovery Task & Finish Group Gareth Cunningham, RSPB Cymru Professor Steve Ormerod, Cardiff University Annie Smith, RSPB Dr Nerys Llewelyn Jones, Interim Environmental Protection Assessor for Wales |
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Committee Staff: |
Marc Wyn Jones (Clerk) Elizabeth Wilkinson (Second Clerk) Andrew Minnis (Researcher) |
1 Introductions, apologies, substitutions, and declarations of interest
1.1 The Chair welcomed Members and witnesses to the meeting.
1.2 Joyce Watson MS declared a relevant interest as a member of RSPB.
2 Green recovery in Wales
2.1 The Committee heard evidence from Sir David Henshaw, Chair of the Green Recovery Group (and Chair of Natural Resources Wales), Sarah Williams, Head of Corporate Strategy, Natural Resources Wales, and Peter Davies, Member of the Green Recovery Group (and Chair of WCVA).
3 Interim environmental governance arrangements
3.1 The Committee heard evidence from Dr Nerys Llewelyn-Jones, Interim Environmental Protection Assessor for Wales.
4 Green recovery and Interim environmental governance arrangements
4.1 The Committee heard evidence from Gareth Cunningham, Head of Conservation Wales, Marine Conservation Society, Professor Steve Ormerod, Professor of Ecology and Co-Director Water Research Institute, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, and Annie Smith, Head of Nature Policy and Casework, RSPB Cymru.
5 Papers to note
5.1 The Committee noted the papers under item 5.1 to 5.6.
5.1 Green recovery and Interim environmental governance arrangements
5.2 Bus and rail transport in Wales
5.3 Cross Party Group on Medical Research
5.4 Interministerial Group for Housing, Communities & Local Government
5.5 Environmental governance
5.6 Transport - urban speed limit
5.6.1 The Committee welcomed the regulations to introduce a default urban speed and agreed to write to the Minister for Climate Change seeking clarification on plans for public signage for the new speed limit.
6 Motion under Standing Order 17.42 (vi) and (ix) to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of today's meeting
6.1 The Committee agreed the motion.
7 Green recovery in Wales - consideration of evidence heard under item 2
7.1 The Committee discussed the evidence received under items 2 and 4.
8 Interim environmental governance arrangements - consideration of evidence heard under item 3
8.1 The Committee discussed the evidence received under items 3 and 4.
8.2 The Committee agreed to write to the First Minister ahead of the planned legislative statement on 5 July 2022 to set out its position on an environmental governance Bill.
9 Consideration of approach to the Legislative Consent Memorandum for the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill
9.1 The Committee agreed its approach to consideration of the LCM for the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill. It agreed to write to the Minister for Finance and Local Government seeking further information and/or clarification on matters relating to the LCM.
10 Consideration of the Committee's draft report on digital connectivity in Wales
10.1 The Committee considered and agreed the draft report on digital connectivity in Wales.