IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

Over this weekend, once again communities across Wales which were hit hard by devastating floods following Storm Bert ( resulting in two landslides, damage to homes and businesses, and one known fatality ) now face Storm Darragh. Last week residents were taken by surprise with inadequate warnings and failing flood defences - particularly in the south valleys - but also in and around Newport and Monmouthshire.

While there is not much we can do about the weather, much of the flooding, chaos and the cleanup are not inevitable.  Labour in Wales initiated cuts to flood prevention alongside their refusal to learn lessons from previous storms - a decision that has left our communities vulnerable to (now much more commonplace) extreme weather. 

Plaid Cymru is calling for immediate emergency funding to help those impacted by the flooding alongside long term investment in resilient infrastructure and actual government accountability – not crowd funders. Protecting high risk communities and addressing coal tip safety are also urgently needed. 

After 25 years, Labour has utterly failed Wales and taken people for granted. No fairness from London - from the £4 billion owed in HS2 cash to fair funding to control over our natural resources. And no ambition from Cardiff – just more decline in our NHS, economy, and public services and our nation needs a fresh start. 

Giving Labour in Wales a second chance after the mess they have made is not an option, to put Labour in Wales back into power in May 2026 simply means more of the same. Wales deserves a fresh start with a new Plaid Cymru government.

Only Plaid Cymru will give Wales a fresh start. After 25 years of Labour in power, we have the longest waiting lists on record, falling educational standards and an economy not realising its potential. It’s time for a new Plaid Cymru government, full of ambition and energy, to improve our NHS and schools, create jobs and grow the economy - putting Wales first to build a fairer society for all. Roll on May 2026.

EMBRACING THE URBAN SPONGE

This summer and during this election campaign we have seen some seriously intense torrential downpours that our drainage system has sometimes struggled to deal with. While our communities can occasionally get lucky when it comes to floods, in a warmer wetter world floods and heavy rain events are going to become more common. Flood avoidance rather than flood prevention will help mitigate and reduce the problems that our communities will face with future floods.  

We need to build into our communities the resilience to cope with flooding. The  severity and frequency of future flooding events means that flood avoidance  needs to become a strategic national priority and be a key principle in the siting of housing in and around our communities. Both the Welsh and Westminster Governments need to make rational but radical long term sustainable choices when it comes to flood defence. 

We in Wales need to develop a comprehensive planning system for our country that hardens our communities and infrastructure against the effects of severe weather events.   We need to focus on flood avoidance and develop flood avoidance schemes rather than end up clearing up after the flood is over again and again.

As our winters and our summers become both warmer and wetter we will see more instances sea and riverine flooding, persistent bad weather has meant that some of our communities have had some pretty close calls and other communities have been badly inundated (again). 

While there can be no blank cheque for flood defences, we need to make rational cost effective sustainable choices when it comes to flood defence whether for coastal or riverine flooding on the Gwent levels or the Ebbw, Wye, Usk or Monnow valleys. 

The debate taking place around flooding needs to focus on re-engineering the whole water system in Wales to ensure that water is retained in the uplands to prevent downstream flooding. Here in Wales, those agencies responsible for our environment need to take the lead and work to ensure that potential flood waters are retained our uplands for longer and flood prevention avoidance schemes are comprehensively built into our planning system.

Where possible we should avoid building in those areas that are particularly vulnerable to flooding or at least when building to take into account the possibilities of flooding. And if we are going to build on flood plains or other areas that are vulnerable to flooding then we must use flood resistant or at the very least flood hardened modern intelligent design techniques to limit potential damage, loss and inconvenience as are used elsewhere. The on-going Dutch programme - Room for the River shows what’s possible.

We can be constructively innovative when we want to - the Welsh Government had previously given “indicative approval” to the Upper Conwy project. The purpose of the project is to assist in the storage of flood waters in the upland by slowing water flows through the restoration of moors, and it includes ditch blocking and river restoration. 

This cooperative project has spearheaded by Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust, with an agency official seconded to the Trust to push the work forward. Similar schemes have been developed in the north of England - this is good practice and we need much more of this. 

We need to both think and act smarter, and to shift the focus from flood prevention to flood avoidance. Our communities, our nation and our world are becoming more prone to extreme weather, torrential downpours and periods of warmer or hit dry weather. 

Dealing with the consequences of this on a marco level is one thing. Small relatively simple steps to store water for later use, with water butts (if only to water garden plants and vegetables) can make a very practical if minor use of excessive rainfall and runoff if only very locally.  Aside from helping to save water and to cut water bills.

Local water storage and management should be part of intelligent urban design, something that is becoming more common and necessary in a warmer wetter world.  On a larger scale this is something we will all have to do, naturally some people and nations are a head of the curve when it comes to re-engineering their infrastructures to deal with extreme weather events. 

The concept of the sponge city or urban sponge something that is embedded and central to urban planning should now be coming into its own, particularly in Wales, with our urban areas being redesigned or designed from the start to soak up, and store deluges of torrential rain to prevent damaging and dangerous flash flooding but without the construction of large scale flood defences.  

The Dutch, for historical and geographical reasons have been involved in serious water management for centuries. Yet in a warmed world, even the Dutch are having to take long hard fresh look at how they deal with the consequences or severe weather and more regular flooding along with a rise in sea levels. 

Many urban areas have developed with any serious co side ration of the impact of flash flooding - back in July 2021, in localised parts of London heavy torrential downpours saw local drainage systems overwhelmed - as streets became rivers, homes and businesses were flooded and public transport ( including trains and tubes ) brought to a standstill. In London, heavy rain, which fell on hard surfaces, overloaded drainage and severe flooding resulted. 

There is certain a case that it if happens on London, then Westminster, at least in the short term cannot ignore it, if it happens outside of London then it’s another matter. In Pontypridd the exciting flood defences were overwhelmed more than once simply being in poor condition and unable to cope with the sheer volume of water. 

Now elsewhere things are done differently - the sponge city concept has been embraced in parts of Berlin, were green roofs have been created with living plants, mosses and grasses, with plants Boeing on vertical walls, with courtyards planted with vegetation, etc - all of which helps to hold and slow excessive water. One beneficial side effect, if that the retained water helps to cool local neighbourhoods as the water evaporates from vegetation and the ground. 

In the Netherlands, the concept of making room for the river has been embraced to give space for flooding, something which slows the speed of riverine flooding. In Amsterdam, they have constructed rain gardens which have been created from parking areas, which are designed to collect water, people have also been encouraged to remove paving from their gardens, to grow plants and to build ponds to help with runoff and water storage. 

In the city of Rotterdam, public places have been turned into what are called water plazas which turn into shallow lakes during periods of heavy rain, when times are drier these locations are used as public parks and playing fields. Underground car parks have been redesigned or specifically built so that lower levels can be used to store storm related flood waters - which can then be pumped dry when water levels have dropped. 

These concepts are only slowly being looked at a adopted within these islands, we still tend to defy logic and build on flood planes, but, tend not to harden infrastructure of buildings ( commercial and domestic ) or to build with flooding in mind  e.g. build smart using ground floors for storage or parking and raise plug and power points, protect utilities and drains, and put washing machines, fridges and freezers up off the floor. 

Some urban areas, within these islands, have slowly begun to adopt the concept, there are some very good examples in Llanelli and at West Gordon Park, near Manchester - where porous pavements, shallow depressions, grass berms and small ponds help to absorb and direct surplus water into rain gardens or natural sumps or green spaces that double up as parks in drier periods. 

These are small steps, in a warmer, wetter world with more erratic and extreme weather events the problem of flooding will only get worse. As homeowners pave over their gardens for parking spaces the problem will worsen. The concept of the urban sponge is one that we all need to embrace, along with smart design and smart water management to help to reduce or alleviate urban flooding or we are going to be living with the consequences.  

AVOIDING FLOODS

While much of Wales dodged the bullet by way of serious floods after the prolonged heavy rain, our neighbours in the Severn Valley and elsewhere in England were not so lucky. While our communities may have got lucky recently, in a warmer wetter world floods and heavy rain events are going to become more common. Flood avoidance rather than flood prevention will help mitigate and reduce the problems that our communities will face with future floods.  

We need to build into our communities the resilience to cope with flooding. The  severity and frequency of future flooding events means that flood avoidance  needs to become a strategic national priority and be a key principle in the siting of housing in and around our communities.  Both the Welsh and Westminster Governments need to make rational long term sustainable choices when it comes to flood defence. 

We in Wales need to develop a comprehensive planning system for our country that hardens our communities and infrastructure against the effects of severe weather events.   We need to focus on flood avoidance and develop flood avoidance schemes rather than end up clearing up after the flood is over again and again.

As our winters and our summers become both warmer and wetter we will see more instances sea and riverine flooding, persistent bad weather has meant that some of our communities have had some pretty close calls and other communities have been badly inundated (again). 

There can be no blank cheque for flood defences so we need to make rational cost effective sustainable choices when it comes to flood defence whether for coastal or riverine flooding on the Gwent levels or the Ebbw, Wye, Usk or Monnow valleys. 

The debate taking place around flooding needs to focus on re-engineering the whole water system in Wales to ensure that water is retained in the uplands to prevent downstream flooding. Here in Wales, those agencies responsible for our environment need to take the lead and work to ensure that potential flood waters are retained our uplands for longer and flood prevention avoidance schemes are comprehensively built into our planning system.

Where possible we should avoid building in those areas that are particularly vulnerable to flooding or at least when building to take into account the possibilities of flooding. And if we are going to build on flood plains or other areas that are vulnerable to flooding then we must use flood resistant or at the very least flood hardened modern intelligent design techniques to limit potential damage, loss and inconvenience as are used elsewhere. The on-going Dutch programme - Room for the River shows what’s possible.

We can be constructively innovative when we want to - the Welsh Government had previously given “indicative approval” to the Upper Conwy project. The purpose of the project is to assist in the storage of flood waters in the upland by slowing water flows through the restoration of moors, and it includes ditch blocking and river restoration. The cooperative project is spearheaded by Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust, with an agency official seconded to the Trust to push the work forward. Similar schemes have been developed in the north of England - this is good practice and we need much more of this. 

We need to think and act smarter, and shift the focus from flood prevention to flood avoidance. Our communities, our nation and our world are becoming more prone to extreme weather, torrential downpours and periods of warmer or hit dry weather. 

Dealing with the consequences of this on a marco level is one thing. Small relatively simple steps to store water for later use, with water butts (if only to water garden plants and vegetables) can make a very practical if minor use of excessive rainfall and runoff if only very locally.  Aside from helping to save water and to cut water bills.

Local water storage and management should be part of intelligent urban design, something that is becoming more common and necessary in a warmer wetter world.  On a larger scale this is something we will all have to do, naturally some people and nations are a head of the curve when it comes to re-engineering their infrastructures to deal with extreme weather events. 

The concept of the sponge city or urban sponge something that is embedded and central to urban planning should now be coming into its own, particularly in Wales, with our urban areas being redesigned or designed from the start to soak up, and store deluges of torrential rain to prevent damaging and dangerous flash flooding but without the construction of large scale flood defences.  

The Dutch, for historical and geographical reasons have been involved in serious water management for centuries. Yet in a warmed world, even the Dutch are having to take long hard fresh look at how they deal with the consequences or severe weather and more regular flooding along with a rise in sea levels. 

Many urban areas have developed with any serious co side ration of the impact of flash flooding - back in July 2021, in localised parts of London heavy torrential downpours saw local drainage systems overwhelmed - as streets became rivers, homes and businesses were flooded and public transport ( including trains and tubes ) brought to a standstill. In London, heavy rain, which fell on hard surfaces, overloaded drainage and severe flooding resulted. 

There is certain a case that it if happens on London, then Westminster, at least in the short term cannot ignore it, if it happens outside of London then it’s another matter. In Pontypridd the exciting flood defences were overwhelmed more than once simply being in poor condition and unable to cope with the sheer volume of water. 

Now elsewhere things are done differently - the sponge city concept has been embraced in parts of Berlin, were green roofs have been created with living plants, mosses and grasses, with plants Boeing on vertical walls, with courtyards planted with vegetation, etc - all of which helps to hold and slow excessive water. One beneficial side effect, if that the retained water helps to cool local neighbourhoods as the water evaporates from vegetation and the ground. 

In the Netherlands, the concept of making room for the river has been embraced to give space for flooding, something which slows the speed of riverine flooding. In Amsterdam, they have constructed rain gardens which have been created from parking areas, which are designed to collect water, people have also been encouraged to remove paving from their gardens, to grow plants and to build ponds to help with runoff and water storage. 

In the city of Rotterdam, public places have been turned into what are called water plazas which turn into shallow lakes during periods of heavy rain, when times are drier these locations are used as public parks and playing fields. Underground car parks have been redesigned or specifically built so that lower levels can be used to store storm related flood waters - which can then be pumped dry when water levels have dropped. 

These concepts are only slowly being looked at a adopted within these islands, we still tend to defy logic and build on flood planes, but, tend not to harden infrastructure of buildings ( commercial and domestic ) or to build with flooding in mind  e.g. build smart using ground floors for storage or parking and raise plug and power points, protect utilities and drains, and put washing machines, fridges sand freezers up off the ground. 

Some urban areas, within these islands, have slowly begun to adopt the concept, there are examples in Llanelli and at West Gordon Park, near Manchester - where porous pavements, shallow depressions, grass berms and small ponds help to absorb and direct surplus water into rain gardens or natural sumps or green spaces that double up as parks in drier periods. 

These are small steps, in a warmer, wetter world with more erratic and extreme weather events the problem of flooding will only get worse. As homeowners pave over their gardens for parking spaces the problem will worsen. The concept of the urban sponge is one that we all need to embrace, along with smart design and smart water management to help to reduce or alleviate urban flooding or we are going to be living with the consequences.  

THE URBAN SPONGE

Oddly enough as we quietly toast in the final days of the latest heatwave - we find ourselves awaiting the rains - and as sure as day follows night - the floods. Heavy at times torrential downpours on parched solid soil can result in localised flash flooding - it's happened before and it will happen again. Part of the problem is that our infrastructure cannot cope with the runoff and the sheer volume of water. 

A near miss in Newport in 2016

In a warmer wetter world heatwaves and flood events are going to become more common - we need to build into our communities the resilience to cope with flooding.  We need to think and act smarter, and shift the focus from flood prevention to flood avoidance. Our communities, our nation and our world are becoming more prone to extreme weather, torrential downpours and periods of warmer or hit dry weather. 

Dealing with the consequences of this on a marco level is one thing.  Small relatively simple steps to store water for later use, with water butts (if only to water garden plants and vegetables) can make a very practical if minor use of excessive rainfall and runoff if only very locally.  Aside from helping to save water and to cut water bills.

Local water storage and management is increasingly part of intelligent urban design, something that is becoming more common and necessary in a warmer wetter world.  On a larger scale this is something we will all have to do, naturally some people and nations are a head of the curve when it comes to re-engineering their infrastructures to deal with extreme weather events. 

The concept of the sponge city or urban sponge something that is embedded and central to urban planning should now be coming into its own, particularly in Wales, with our urban areas being redesigned or designed from the start to soak up, and store deluges of torrential rain to prevent damaging and dangerous flash flooding but without the construction of large scale flood defences.  

The Dutch, for historical and geographical reasons have been involved in serious water management for centuries. Yet in a warmed world, even the Dutch are having to take long hard fresh look at how they deal with the consequences or severe weather and more regular flooding along with a rise in sea levels. 

Many urban areas have developed with any serious co side ration of the impact of flash flooding - back in July 2021, in localised parts of London heavy torrential downpours saw local drainage systems overwhelmed - as streets became rivers, homes and businesses were flooded and public transport ( including trains and tubes ) brought to a standstill. In London, heavy rain, which fell on hard surfaces, overloaded drainage and severe flooding resulted. 

There is certain a case that it if happens on London, then Westminster, at least in the short term cannot ignore it, if it happens outside of London then it’s another matter. In Pontypridd the existing flood defences were overwhelmed more than once simply being in poor condition and unable to cope with the sheer volume of water. 

Now elsewhere things are done differently - the sponge city concept has been embraced in parts of Berlin, were green roofs have been created with living plants, mosses and grasses, with plants Boeing on vertical walls, with courtyards planted with vegetation, etc - all of which helps to hold and slow excessive water. One beneficial side effect, if that the retained water helps to cool local neighbourhoods as the water evaporates from vegetation and the ground. 

In the Netherlands, the concept of making room for the river has been embraced to give space for flooding, something which slows the speed of riverine flooding. In Amsterdam, they have constructed rain gardens which have been created from parking areas, which are designed to collect water, people have also been encouraged to remove paving from their gardens, to grow plants and to build ponds to help with runoff and water storage. 

In the city of Rotterdam, public places have been turned into what are called water plazas which turn into shallow lakes during periods of heavy rain, when times are drier these locations are used as public parks and playing fields. Underground car parks have been redesigned or specifically built so that lower levels can be used to store storm related flood waters - which can then be pumped dry when water levels have dropped. 

These concepts are only slowly being looked at a adopted within these islands, we still tend to defy logic and build on flood planes, but, tend not to harden infrastructure of buildings ( commercial and domestic ) or to build with flooding in mind  e.g. build smart using ground floors for storage or parking and raise plug and power points, protect utilities and drains, and put washing machines, fridges sand freezers up off the ground. 

Some urban areas, within these islands, have slowly begun to adopt the concept, there are examples in Llanelli and at West Gordon Park, near Manchester - where porous pavements, shallow depressions, grass berms and small ponds help to absorb and direct surplus water into rain gardens or natural sumps or green spaces that double up as parks in drier periods. 

These are small steps, in a warmer, wetter world with more erratic and extreme weather events the problem of flooding will only get worse. As homeowners pave over their gardens for parking spaces the problem will worsen. The concept of the urban sponge is one that we all need to embrace, along with smart design and smart water management to help to reduce or alleviate urban flooding or we are going to be living with the consequences.  

OUR MANIFESTO FOR NEWPORT 2022

While the City Council lacks many of the powers necessary to transform our city’s economy - it should be possible to work with the Senedd and other partners to make life in our city better  and more sustainable. Plaid Cymru Newport’s manifesto is additional to Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales’s local government manifesto which can be found in full on-line here. 

Our City needs to focus on developing affordable housing, to focus on redeveloping our local economy, and to focus on the local rather than regional. Our city needs to build in resilience to flooding with flood avoidance being the focus rather than flood prevention, and to focus on growing green jobs and actively pushing to develop our transport infrastructure with railway stations at Caerleon, Tredegar Park, Somerton, Llanwern, and Magor. 

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

We need to tackle the housing crisis in the City - there is an acute lack of affordable homes - something made worse by rapidly rising house prices - as Newport sits between Cardiff and Bristol and is perceived rightly as a cheaper place to live - this means that people in Newport cannot afford to by or rent their own homes. 

While is is not some thing that the City Council can solve individually as former council housing is now run by Housing Associations - the City Council should work with the Housing Associations and the Welsh Government to priorities at the creation of affordable homes within Newport.

REDEVELOPING OUR LOCAL ECONOMY

We need to develop and encourage local supply chains and forces on the creation of local business, as this is create more local flexible job opportunities, within the City centre. Local businesses trade with each other, sell goods and services and help to ensure that money spent within them stays on the local economy longer. 

The Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England long ago proved that ten pounds sent in a local business circulates three times longer locally than it does if spent in a chain-  this principle applies equally to small towns or larger urban areas. 

The City Council should work to expand businesses support for existing and developing small businesses.  While the loss of Debenhams in Friars Walk was a bitter blow - which while covid did not help  - in reality the Debenham’s retail model had been failing for some years. 

The Friar’s walk development itself was too small, too limited in scope and failed to create the retail space for local businesses to set up from the start. While there have been some tentative steps towards that recently ( the redeveloped Market being a good example of what’s possible), at a fundamental level a refocus on growing and supporting small businesses - there is room enough to make this work. 

Newport has suffered because of the unhealthy obsession with directly competing with Cardiff and Cribs Causeway. We seriously need to focus on growing small local businesses that supply our needs as well as hosting the usual suspects to bring economic life back to our city centre. If we can do this then we can bring sustainable economic growth and some life back to our city centre. 

SAYING NO TO THE CARDIFF CITY REGION AND THE WESTERN GATEWAY 

There are few if any positives for Newport being a simple dormitory town for Bristol or Cardiff. Plaid in Newport can never subscribe to the Severnside agenda, no matter how many times it gets rebranded and relaunched. The proposed Cardiff City region and the Western Gateway project will not serve Newport well and need to be abandoned - to be replaced with a redevelopment plan that focuses on a local rather than the regional scale. 

FLOOD AVOIDANCE

We need to build into our city the resilience to cope with flooding - sadly in a warmer wetter world - flood events are going to become more common - we need to think and act smarter, with shifting the focus from flood prevention to flood avoidance.  Local water storage and management is increasingly part of intelligent urban design, something that is becoming more common and necessary in a warmer wetter world, as we will have to re-engineer our  infrastructures to deal with more frequent extreme weather events.

The concept of the sponge city or urban sponge. something that should be embedded and central to urban planning should now be coming into its own, particularly in Wales, with our urban areas being redesigned or designed from the start to soak up, and store deluges of torrential rain to prevent damaging and dangerous flash flooding but without the construction of large scale flood defences.  

GROWING GREEN JOBS

Newport is perfectly placed to be at the forefront of the green energy revolution with its deep water port, our highly skilled adaptable workforce, our city should be a natural centre for the development go off shore wind energy, tidal lagoons in the Severn estuary, and underwater tidal turbines.

The original Newport river barrage was rejected by the Conservatives in 1991, the City Council, working with the Senedd should commission a modern feasibility study into tapping the tidal energy potential of the Usk, in Newport, with an Usk River Barrage, nothing that if approved could transform our city relationship with our river along with our economy.

BUILDING OUR RAILWAYS

Plaid like many people in Newport, welcomed the commitment to build new railway stations at Tredegar Park, Somerton, Llanwern, and Magor. We need ground broken sooner rather than later to bring the new railway stations into being, to provide alternative means of getting around our city and elsewhere, once a degree of normality returns after covid. The new stations are an absolute necessity, but we need a railway station to serve Caerleon / Ponthir which would a real asset to both communities.