10 NORTH WALES GROWTH DEAL PDF 519 KB
To submit the
report of the Council Leader (attached).
Additional documents:
Decision:
(a)
To approve the Overarching Business Plan as the document that sets out
the arrangements for delivering the North Wales Growth Deal as the basis for
completing the Final Agreement and acceptance of the Grant Funding Letter with
the UK and Welsh Governments.
(b)
To approve the provisions in Governance Agreement 2, which involve the
non-executive functions, and specifically adopt the arrangements for Scrutiny
that have been noted in "Governance
Agreement 2: Appendix 3" as the basis for completing the Final
Agreement and acceptance of the Grant Funding Letter with the UK and Welsh
Governments.
(c)
Subject to completing Governance Agreement 2, that Gwynedd Council
agrees to act as the Host Authority and the Accountable Body and signs the
letter of the Grant Funding Proposal on behalf of the Partners through the
Chief Finance Officer.
(ch) To approve the method used to
calculate the cost of borrowing, which is required in principle to facilitate
the negative cash flow for the Growth Deal, and to include a provision within
the Council Budget to pay this contribution and the established core and
supplementary contributions as set out in GA2 (and in paragraphs 5.5 - 5.7 of
the report).
(d) To delegate authority to the Chief
Executive, in consultation with the Leader, the Monitoring Officer and the
Section 151 Officer, to agree minor changes to the documents with the Partners
as necessary to complete the agreement.
Minutes:
The Leader
submitted a report presenting the package of key documents required to reach
Final Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal with the UK Government and
Welsh Government.
He noted that:-
·
The adoption of the recommendations would allow the
signing of the Final Agreement with both Governments on 17 December.
·
In terms of the Growth Deal itself, it had been a long
three year journey, however, the North Wales Economic Ambition Board had been established
nearly eight years ago, when the local authorities in north Wales,
universities, colleges and the private sector came together to address economic
development matters at a regional level.
·
In working together, the partnership was widely recognised
as a strong partnership and an example of good practice.
·
The six authorities that are partners on the Board are
of several different political hues with very different economic backgrounds,
however, the six Leaders were in agreement that the welfare of the people of
north Wales was what was important.
·
He wished to thank partnership members, including the
universities and colleges and the private sector, who had been a major part of
the discussion and of developing the plans.
·
In addition, he also wanted to thank the team of
officers under the lead of Alwen Williams, Portfolio Director, and he noted
that the fact there was such a good team of officers in the north operating in
the economic development field gave him confidence that it would be possible to
address the major problems that will face us in the future.
·
That as statutory
officers of the host authority, Dafydd Edwards, Head of Finance and Iwan Evans,
Monitoring Officer were instrumental in leading teams of officers across the
north in undertaking the financial and legal and governance work, and he wished
to thank them also for their outstanding contribution to the work of the Board.
·
The situation of the
economy in the north had changed since the plan's projects had been originally
developed. Covid had had a very detrimental impact,
and the economy had an uncertain future as a result of whatever would emanate
from Brexit.
·
That the Ambition Board was more than the Growth Deal,
and it was proposed to look at other streams of financial investments from
several directions.
·
Although it was disappointing that the Westminster
Government had provided less money than the total requested at the start,
however, signing the Final Agreement before Christmas would release a stream
from the £240m, with £16m received every year for the next fifteen years to
implement Growth Deal projects over the next 5-6 years.
Alwen Williams
(Portfolio Director) and Sioned Williams (Head of Economy and Community) were
welcomed to the meeting, and the Portfolio Director was invited to give a slide
presentation. During the presentation,
the following were highlighted:-
·
Growth Deal Portfolio -
details were given on the aim, the size of investment for the plan as a whole
and the expenditure objectives.
·
Overview of the
programmes
·
A List of Growth Deal
Projects.
·
Regional benefits
The Head ... view the full minutes text for item 10