Mick elected Chair of new Sustainability Scrutiny Committee

Following his ongoing campaign on sustainability, Mick Bates has been elected unopposed as chair of the National Assembly′s new Sustainability committee.

Commenting Mick said: “It is a great honour to be elected chair of the committee. Sustainability has been a life long passion of mine and one of the main reasons I got involved in politics.

“It is a particular honour to chair this committee with the Assemblies new powers. Under new rules there are only four subject committees. They are designed to scrutinise government activity and make sure the people of Wales get the best possible deal out of the Ministers that run the country. The sustainability committee will be doing just this. As chair I will be ambitious to scrutinise all who have power over events in Wales.

“The committee will also scrutinise and make recommendations on a broad range of areas, from energy production and waste management to farming and countryside. It will set up a sub-on rural development to address challenges to rural Wales.

“It’s a pretty exciting committee to sit on, and an even more exciting committee to chair. I look forward to working with AM’s from all parties, as well as representatives from organisations outside the Assembly and the general public to really get stuck in to the issues. We are the first scrutiny committee to meet and next week will announce our first lines of enquiry.

The Sustainability Committee begin their exciting agenda in September.  Mick has welcomed the agreement that the first Committee inquiry will be a review of carbon emissions in Wales:

“Addressing climate change means reducing carbon emissions, and I want to see Wales leading the charge.

“I want the inquiry to be the start of real action on carbon emissions in Wales. Over the coming months we will talk to experts, energy groups and people with concerns across the UK. I want to hear from Ministers from other administrations across the county on their ideas for reducing emissions.

“We hope to achieve a list of recommendations for legislation for positive change. I hope Wales will be a world leader in tackling carbon emissions and creating a better environment for future generations.”