6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on public parks? OAQ(5)0108(ERA)

Thank you. The provision and maintenance of public parks is the responsibility of local authorities. Our public parks can enhance the resilience of our ecosystems and help us tackle the impacts of climate change such as flooding. Public parks provide spaces for recreation, children’s play, outdoor learning and opportunities to improve physical and mental well-being.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her answer. I have to declare an interest as the species champion for the shrill carder bee, an important part of the Gwent ecosystem. The Cabinet Secretary, I’m sure, appreciates the importance of public parks to our ecosystem and to its habitats, and she’ll be aware I’m sure of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘State of UK Public Parks 2016’ report last year, which reported that Wales was anticipating the highest percentage reduction to staff, as well as the greatest proportion of declining parks. No park managers in Wales expect to have parks that are improving in condition in the next three years. What could she say to reassure me that that is absolutely not the case?

As I say, it is an issue for local authorities, and we’ve made our views very clear. You’ll be aware that we were recently consulting on the natural resources policy—that closed on 13 February—and I’m getting ready to publish the final policy later spring, early summer, and this is an area that we are focusing on.

In our manifesto, Cabinet Secretary, Welsh Conservatives pledged to a community right to bid for registered assets of community value. I appreciate we don’t have that but, actually, in the Labour manifesto your party stated that you would introduce measures to prevent unnecessary closures, and to assist communities to take ownership of community assets themselves, where possible and appropriate. I’m wondering whether you’ve had an opportunity to speak to your Cabinet colleague, bearing in mind that a consultation by your own Government revealed that there was a lot of popular support for this idea, about when something similar might happen in Wales so that we can know what it looks like, and have the opportunity to support it.

Yes, I have had the opportunity, and obviously I was in that portfolio previously, and I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children is considering it.

I think everybody agrees that the parks in Cardiff are glorious, and I was very pleased that the friends of Cefn Onn park, which is in my Constituency of Cardiff North, secured a £495,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant towards improving the park. Work is actually beginning on this this month. So, would she congratulate the friends of Cefn Onn park and the local authority in definitely taking major steps forward to improve this park in Cardiff?

Yes, absolutely. It’s very good to see this work being undertaken. I absolutely agree with you about the parks in Cardiff. I think that’s one of the things, when I first started visiting Cardiff as an adult; the parks are indeed very glorious and there is so much green space in our capital city.