Philip Dunne welcomes DEFRA’s River Wye action plan, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and asks the Minister if there is any action by the Welsh Government to match the UK Government’s commitment to cleaning up the polluted River Wye.
River Wye Action Plan
Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)
4. What discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the River Wye action plan. (902650)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Fay Jones)
I thank my right hon. Friend for his work as Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee. The UK Government’s River Wye action plan will halt ongoing decline of the River Wye to preserve and restore that treasured river to the rating of favourable condition.
Philip Dunne
As the Minister has already said, the environment is a devolved matter, but nobody seems to have told the River Wye, which rises in Wales and crosses the border to merge into the River Severn in England. I very much welcome the River Wye action plan, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced recently. Has my hon. Friend seen any action taken by the Welsh Government to match the UK Government’s commitment to cleaning up the polluted River Wye?
Fay Jones
In the interests of time, I will give my right hon. Friend a very short answer: no. The Welsh Government have failed to come to the table time and time again on this issue, which is close to my heart as a constituency MP for the River Wye. That has been the missing piece of the puzzle, and it is why we are seeing no action in Wales.