Climate change minister Julie James has u-turned on her plans to explore banning artificial grass.
Last week Ms James was talking about banning the grass alternative the same way the Welsh Government had outlawed single-use plastic. "I really want to explore proactively whether it's possible to do it through that route as well," she told the Senedd when asked by Plaid MS Sioned Williams.
Artificial grass has a terrible impact on the environment as it gets very hot in summer, fragments can make it into the soil and it provides no habitat for living things. However, speaking to the BBC just days after saying she wanted to ban it, Ms James said that was no longer the case. You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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"I don't have the power to ban artificial grass tomorrow morning. And even if I did, I wouldn't," she said. She told Politics Wales: "I think we can help people understand how you can have an environmentally friendly biodiverse 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."
Julie James, who said that she aimed to have no gas boilers in Wales by 2030, said she had received lots of messages about the plastic grass. She said that, of them, 90% were in favour of the ban.
Speaking in the Senedd on Wednesday, Ms James had said: "There is a short-term focus on, maybe it's lower maintenance, but, actually, weeds come up through artificial grass. It can be very difficult to clean, if an animal has been on it, and, actually, there are quite worrying reports from a number of university sources, saying that the toxicity coming off artificial grass, if it's played on by children and so on, is quite alarming.
"So, actually, I really do think we need to get a public information campaign going about why it isn't the short-term solution it looks like for people. I've also noticed a slightly worrying tendency for artificial hedges and pots and things. You only have to look at those after one autumn of rain to see that they've leached the colour out of them and they've gone into the environment."
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