Meetings

The Committee considered further correspondence and noted that work is ongoing to review and, where opportunities are identified, strengthen planning requirements around intensive agriculture. The Committee agreed to note the serious concerns expressed by the petitioners throughout this process but concluded that, in light of the responses received from the Minister, Natural Resources Wales and the petitioners, there is little further that it could achieve at this time. The Committee agreed to close the petition and to write to the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee to ask if they can continue to monitor developments as part of their work into land use and biodiversity.

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to write back to the Minister for Environment to share the petitioners’ concerns and ask her to respond to the questions posed by the petitioners in their latest correspondence, and also share the correspondence with Natural Resources Wales and seek their responses to the issues relevant to them.

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to:

·         write again to the Minister for Environment to seek a response to the previous points raised  in relation to the ‘polluter pays’ principle, and to ask further questions proposed by the petitioners in relation to ammonia and phosphate pollution and the permitting regime; and

·         write to the Minister for Housing and Local Government to raise the petitioners’ concerns that the timescales for the work of the Town and Country Planning Intensive Agriculture Working Group have slipped and ask for an updated timeline for the Group’s work, including an indication of when they will report their findings.

The Committee considered correspondence from the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs and from the petitioner, and agreed to:

·         provide the additional information from the petitioners to:

o   the Minister for Environment. Energy and Rural Affairs and ask for her response to the proposal to apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle to the costs of regulation, monitoring and breaches; and

o   the Minister for Housing and Local Government in relation to the petitioners’ comments on the terms of reference for the Town & Country Planning Intensive Agriculture Working Group and await the outcomes of its work The Committee also agreed to ask the Minister what consideration she has given to the cumulative impact of planning decision and whether she will consider amending the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 to take this into account.

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to write back to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs to:

·         ask for a list of the membership of the working group and confirmation of its title and final terms of reference;

·         propose that the group’s membership should include representation from environmental organisations and/or independent scientist(s); and

·         seek further information about the interaction between this strand of work and the Intensive Agriculture Health Working Group.

The Committee considered correspondence from Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs together with further comments from the petitioner and agreed to:

• write back to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs to ask for:
• further details of the work being taken forward on the cumulative impact of new development on sensitive habitats during 2019;
• information over the stakeholders who will be engaged in this; and
• a response to the request that the petitioners are invited to participate as part of this work.
• write to the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee to make it aware of the petition and the evidence received to date in light of that Committee’s current inquiry into Biodiversity;
• provide the petitioner’s analysis and the views expressed by Natural Resources Wales in their previous correspondence with committee members.

The Committee considered correspondence from Natural Resources Wales, the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs and the petitioner and agreed to write back to the Cabinet Secretary to ask:

• for her response to the suggestion that the current requirements for local planning authorities to carry out environmental assessment of applications for units of under 40,000 bird places are insufficient to protect habitats and the environment;
• whether the Welsh Government intends to reconsider the thresholds in future, as suggested by NRW;
• for her response to concerns over the capacity and expertise with local planning authorities to adequately carry out environmental assessments required; and
• in light of the above, whether she considers that there are grounds to curb further expansion of this sector whilst further research is conducted, and possible further controls are considered.

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to write to:

·         Natural Resources Wales to seek their views on the issues raised by the petition; and 

·         The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs to seek further information about how consideration is, or could be, given to the issue of clustering of smaller poultry developments, and whether NRW could be empowered to look at the cumulative effects of multiple developments within a given area.