The Welsh Government must give greater priority to planning for Wales’ future infrastructure needs and decide on the future of the body set up to advise it on infrastructure requirements, according to a Senedd Committee.
The Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee’s new report concludes that planning for big projects such as flood defences and energy projects are being held back by the Welsh Government.
Lack of commitment
Today’s report looks at how the Welsh Government works with the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW), a body created to look ahead at major infrastructure challenges.
Despite this, the Senedd Committee finds that the Welsh Government has a “non-committal” attitude towards NICW. This is because of long delays in responding to their reports and uncertainty regarding their budget which is leading the Committee to question if the Welsh Government values NICW’s work.
Last year, the Senedd Committee recommended that the Welsh Government should commit themselves to formally responding to any report published by NICW within three months.
However, despite the Welsh Government reviewing how they should work with NICW, they didn’t come to any conclusion about when they should respond to their recommendations. NICW is still awaiting a response to their report into flooding, published in October 2024.
Today’s Committee report calls this unsatisfactory and also says that it is overdue for the Welsh Government to decide on the role and objectives of NICW. According to the Committee, this should also go hand in hand with giving the organisation more certainty in their work by extending their funding past the next Senedd elections in 2026.
Assessing Wales’ infrastructure needs
The lack of resources available to NICW was also made obvious when the report looked at how a similar organisation in New Zealand, who have a similar population size to Wales, plan their country’s infrastructure work.
The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission confirmed that the cost of carrying out a comprehensive infrastructure assessment was around £2.5m. With the UK Government also having recently carried out a similar piece of work, the Senedd Committee is concerned that the Welsh Government’s decision-making could be weaker and more costly in the long run if a similar effort isn’t undertaken here - despite the initial extra cost.
Llyr Gruffydd MS, Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, said, “Today’s report is clear that it’s time for the Welsh Government to decide whether or not they’re going to treat the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales seriously.
“NICW is meant to advise and challenge the Welsh Government on how they’re planning for major things like adapting to climate change, beefing up flood defences and renewable energy developments.
“This makes sure that Wales is ready for the challenges of the future, so it’s been incredibly disappointing to see the Welsh Government showing very little interest in NICW’s work.
“It’s time for the Welsh Government to back NICW and give them the support they need to do an infrastructure assessment in Wales - and at a bare minimum to respond to their reports in a timely manner.
“The big infrastructure challenges of the next twenty years might not seem like a priority right now, but if the Welsh Government continues to disregard this, it will be the taxpayers of the future who will be paying the price.”
