Here's the latest Argus column by South Wales East AM David Rowlands:

THE Welsh Government is committed to making Wales a carbon-free country by 2030.

Whilst this may be a laudable aim in itself, one has to question the methods being employed to achieve this target.

One might have noticed that over the last few weeks our dual carriageways are being converted to 50mph speed restrictions.

MORE NEWS:

This is in the belief that this will reduce carbon emissions.

Yet this is in spite of the fact that a carefully monitored reduction in the speed on the M4 between Port Talbot and Swansea came to the conclusion that there was no appreciative reduction in CO2 emissions, saying that results were inconclusive.

There is a move to make all Wales' urban areas 20mph zones.

Will this mean travelling from the upper Rhondda to Cardiff will all be done at 20mph? Or, closer to home, travelling from Henllys to Croesyceiliog will be done at 30mph? These extreme measures could risk making Wales a tourist unfriendly country.

On a wider and more devastating scale we have just learned that Natural Resources Wales has cut down 1.2 million trees to facilitate the building of wind farms. I may have mentioned previously that the Wales Government is lamentably behind in its tree planting targets.

As trees are one of the greatest carbon reducing elements on our planet, one has to ask the question - is the loss of trees on the scale mentioned above truly compensated for by the savings in CO2 output represented by wind turbines?

One must also note the loss of natural habitat and scenic beauty the removal of trees in such numbers has on our environment.

It is also noted that trees are huge natural reservoirs of water, a mature tree absorbing up to 50 gallons of water a day.

There are many who contend that the loss of trees has contributed to the recent devastating floods we have witnessed in recent months.

I leave you to ponder on whether you feel the Welsh Governments approach to decarbonisation is the correct one.

To close I wish all of my constituents the very best during the coming months with regard to the new big but hopefully short lived big “C”. I mean of course coronavirus. Please take all the precautions advocated by all the government agencies.

  • You can contact me at DavidJ.Rowlands@assembly.wales