| Dear Sir / Madam
RSPB Cymru is grateful for the opportunity to contribute
views to the Richard Commission.
We have enclosed a response to your consultation, which
we would be delighted to discuss with the Commission
in more detail should this be helpful. The main points
of our response are:
• The RSPB is politically neutral. For this
reason, we have chosen to identify only the problems
in some areas, rather than promote specific solutions.
• In our view, devolution in Wales has resulted
in some improvements to policies which impact on the
environment.
• We have made comments on areas where we believe
the system could be improved for the benefit of the
Welsh environment, as this the prime area of interest
for the RSPB. We also have made comments on where
the system could be improved to help the National
Assembly for Wales promote sustainable development.
• We believe there is a need for changes to
primary legislation for Wales if the National Assembly
is to promote a sustainable development agenda. We
have made some specific suggestions in point 5 of
our response.
• We also believe that whilst the internal workings
of the National Assembly are reasonably transparent
and participative, this is not true of the intergovernmental
relationships between Wales and London (at both the
parliamentary and executive levels). We believe that
formal inter-governmental mechanisms need to be created.
Thank you again for the opportunity to participate
in these discussions. If you would like more information
on our points or to would like to discuss this, further
please do not hesitate to contact me or Katie-jo Luxton,
RSPB Cymru, Policy Advocate.
We have no objections to our response being made public.
Yours faithfully
Dr. Tim Stowe
Director, RSPB Cymru
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