7. What action is the Welsh Government taking to utilise Islwyn’s natural environment to benefit its people? OQ56644

Llywydd, yesterday marked the reopening of Cwmcarn forest drive, one of the many environmental attractions in Islwyn. I thank the Member for her steadfast support of this and the wider environmental agenda in her Constituency.

Thank you, First Minister. Yesterday, as you stated, the Cwmcarn forest drive reopened for the first time since 2014 after undergoing a multimillion pound investment. First Minister, there is a newly improved campsite, lake, several new all-ability trails with access for all, three new play areas, a woodland sculpture trail and a wooden cabin with panoramic—truly, actually—panoramic views of the communities of Islwyn, and that will act as a place for outdoor learning and a catalyst and hopefully, a forest school in the future.

First Minister, can I, on behalf of the people of Islwyn, thank you and the Welsh Labour Government, who saw the potential of the natural, stunning environment of the Gwent valleys, and prioritised Cwmcarn forest when initiating the Valleys taskforce project? And will you, First Minister, join me in thanking the friends of Cwmcarn forest drive—the Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society, the Oxford House Industrial History Society in Risca and the people in Islwyn—who championed and fought over seven long years with me for one of the crown jewels in Wales's natural environment to be made accessible to all again? First Minister, how, then, can the Welsh Government ensure that the legacy of the Valleys taskforce is safeguarded and also protected and nurtured for future generations?

Llywydd, I thank the Member for that question. Yesterday was a great day with the reopening of the forest drive. I have hugely fond memories of it, of taking my children there when they were growing up, and I was lucky enough, Llywydd, to be able to visit it again in March of this year, together with some families of people who had died during the coronavirus crisis, where trees were being planted in memory of loved ones. It was a stunningly beautiful day, and just the sheer wealth of that natural environment is an amazing asset that we have. It's gone through a very tough time, Llywydd, as you know—115,000 trees had to be felled along the drive because of sudden oak death syndrome, which affected the larch trees, in fact, in Cwmcarn, and that's why it's taken all these seven years for it to be reopened.

But the point that Rhianon Passmore makes is the important one: that, over those long years, those local groups, those very committed people and the genuine commitment of the local authority to that site is what has led to its reopening, not just as it was before, but with all those additional facilities to which the local Member referred, and I know will go on drawing many people now to the reopened site. And it is, as she said, part of that wider pattern of investment that we promised through the work of the Valleys taskforce—the money that we have invested in those destination venues. You can really make a journey across those Valleys communities now from one of those destination sites to another, each one of them with new investment in it, each one of them saying something special about the history or the environment of that part of Wales, and I think many, many visitors will rediscover the richness of those communities, and Cwmcarn will certainly be one of the jewels in that experience.

Finally, question 8, Rhys ab Owen.