3. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of the default 20 mph policy on people in Vale of Clwyd? OQ60509

People across Wales, including the Vale of Clwyd, will benefit from fewer collisions in communities, saving lives and reducing casualties. In addition to reduced deaths and injuries, we can expect increases in cycling and walking, and improvements in public health.

Thank you for your response, First Minister. With the 20 mph speed limit enforcement starting on the eighth of this month, the consequences are already being felt in the Vale of Clwyd, with Arriva Buses Wales scrapping their service to the popular Tweedmill shopping outlet, which I raised in the Senedd last week.

A concern that I'd like to raise with you, First Minister, is the possibility that the legislation, and failure of local authorities in north Wales to navigate the legislation, may be putting the Vale of Clwyd at a disadvantage compared to other areas of Wales. The Deputy Minister for Climate Change commented last week that 0.6 per cent of roads in Denbighshire are exempt from the 20 mph limit, compared with 10 per cent in Swansea, 10 per cent in Bridgend and a higher percentage in many other local authorities, particularly in south Wales.

My constituents would be grateful if they had an explanation for the disparity between the level of exemptions that have been approved in local authorities in north Wales compared to those in the south, and why they are so slow in north Wales. I sent a letter to Denbighshire County Council with a list of proposed highways that constituents suggested for exemption, following a consultation with residents. Denbighshire County Council informed me they would review these highways, but we've seen no progress since. 

Could the First Minister please shed light on this issue, and explain whether the delay in 20 mph exemptions for Denbighshire is due to a lackadaisical local authority? Is it due to obstruction from the Welsh Government, or is it the local authority struggling to navigate the new legislation? If it is the latter, what is the First Minister doing to ensure that the Welsh Government is working to help local authorities in north Wales to navigate the legislation and ensure the appropriate exemptions are being approved in a timely fashion?   

I'm happy to help the Member as best I can, and to say again what I've said here and what the Deputy Minister set out in some detail last week. We are committed to a review of the guidance that we provide to local authorities. If it has not been sufficiently clear to some local authorities, we will work with them to make sure it gives them the clarity that they need. Then there will have to be a review by each local authority in applying that guidance in the circumstances that they themselves face, and those circumstances do change from one local authority to another. The topography is different, population density can be different. One of the things I think we have found out in this whole exercise is that there were different approaches in any case to designating 30 mph roads in different parts of Wales.

What we will do is to be as clear as we can, working alongside local authorities on the guidance. It is then for them, Llywydd; it is local authorities who interpret that guidance in the circumstances that they face. I think the point that the Deputy Minister made last week is an important one: that there is an unexpectedly wide gap between those local authorities that have exempted fewer than 1 per cent of their roads and those local authorities that have exempted as much as 10 per cent. The exercise I think will look to see whether there are anomalies there that can be ironed out, and it'll be done in that partnership way—a review of the guidance by the Welsh Government to help with clarity, and then implementation decisions that lie with local authorities themselves. 

We know there is variation across Wales in terms of the roads that have remained at 30 mph. The review is going to look at this issue, and we need to engage with our partners in local government and bus operators as part of that. We've seen that the regional scrums and the corporate joint committees are working well in terms of bringing local authorities together in dealing with some of the challenges facing the bus industry in Wales. First Minister, do you agree with me that they provide an ideal forum for that detailed discussion for looking at the impact of speed limits on arterial routes and punctuality, as well as helping to identify areas where bus priority measures could make a real difference? 

I very much agree with the point that Carolyn Thomas has made about bus priority measures being the right answer to making sure that buses are able to move through communities, particularly where there is a great deal of traffic. That's why the Welsh Government has provided millions of pounds in this year's budget, and will do so again in next year's budget, to help local authorities with the costs of creating bus priority lanes to allow public transport to move swiftly through those areas.

I also agree with the point that Carolyn Thomas made. I think she echoed, in a way, a point I was trying to make in my original answer, which is that a partnership approach between the responsibilities of the Welsh Government and the responsibilities of local authorities will fine-tune this policy and iron out any anomalies that have been apparent in the first months of its operation. 

I think regional working between local authorities based on corporate joint committees and those regional arrangements that have been put in place for bus services is a very sensible way for this to go, and, in the review that we'll be carrying out of the guidance that the Welsh Government has provided, we will certainly be engaging with local authorities on those regional footprints.