The Welsh Government has issued the latest revision of it National Development Framework – https://gov.wales/future-wales-national-plan-2040 – which is to be scrutinised by the Senedd before finalisation early next year.  Changes since the draft included revised population and housing projections.  The proposal for a green belt  north of M4 from the English border to Cardiff remains.

For those who may be interested in the complex world of household waste recycling, there is a lengthy MCC committee report at https://democracy.monmouthshire.gov.uk/documents/s26574/1a%20Future%20of%20waste%20services%20-%20Strong%20Communities%20Special%20Report%20September%202020%20V.5%20_%20FINAL.pdf.  The closure of recycling centres during the Covid-19 lockdown resulted in over 70% of kerbside collections being recyclable, reinforcing the Council’s aim to reduce the number and use of recycling centres in favour of collection.  The Usk centre is still likely to be permanently closed unless operated by the Town Council or others, and booking will probably continue to be necessary to use recycling centres, with reduced hours/days.

There are many worrying reports on climate change that could be recommended, but most are long and require considerable reading time.  The recently launched Climate Assembly UK report is similarly long but a little different.  It focuses on the Government’s commitment to be zero carbon by 2050 so may not be as demanding as many would wish, but it is the outcome of the lengthy deliberations of a Citizens’ Assembly of over 100 people intended to be representative of the population.  There are over fifty recommendations to be considered by Parliament and the UK Government.  The report and a 31-page summary are available at: https://www.climateassembly.uk/report/

Provisional recycling percentages for 2019/20 show that Monmouthshire improved from 63.37% in 2018/19 to 65.57%, exceeding the Welsh Government’s expectation of 64%.  Newport, which had a poor figure of 58.95% in 2018/19, managed to exceed Monmouthshire in 2019/20 with 66.36%.  Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen also showed marked improvement.