The Welsh Government U-turns on fake grass ban idea (original) (raw)

Wales' minister for climate change has now confirmed fake grass will not be banned in Wales, just days after saying it was an idea she was exploring. Speaking in the Senedd Julie James had said that she "really wants to explore proactively" if artificial lawns could be banned.

Putting in artificial lawns has been increasingly popular in recent years because they don't have to be mowed and require very little maintenance. However critics say there are a wide range of issues with these lawns which are made of polypropylene or nylon.

Ms James revealed she was considering ways of using Wales' new law on single-use plastics to outlaw fake grass lawns after being asked about Swansea council using artificial grass as part of the city's regeneration. But now she has told the BBC that she "doesn't have the power" to ban artificial grass, adding: "Even if I did, I wouldn't."

Instead, Ms James told Politics Wales: "I think we can help people understand how you can have an environmentally friendly bio diverse small space that is very low. And what we'll do is we'll, you know, embark on a journey with the Welsh public as we always do, to get people to understand."

On Thursday, she had said she was considering ways in which they could ban the use of the grass like they had with plastic products. Saying: "I think it really is an important issue. We will be looking at all of our guidance and working with our local authorities to make sure that it isn't used in any publicly funded space, but I also want to get a piece of evidence going to (a) do a public information campaign about the problems with artificial grass, and (b) explore whether our new single use plastics Bill. That gave us the ability to add in other plastics for banning, so I really want to explore proactively whether it's possible to do it through that route as well."

There are a long list of cited issues with artificial lawns. Several high profile public figures have spoken out against them including well wildlife advocate and Welsh TV presenter Iolo Williams.

Politics Wales, BBC One Wales, Sunday at 10am.

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