Issue - meetings

Alwen Williams, Interim Chief Executive and Iain Taylor, AMION Consulting to present the report.

It was agreed:

·       Accept the update report

·       Review the proposed outline arrangements for the Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone Advisory Board and advise on the proposal.

·       Review the proposed Delegation and Decision Framework and advise on the proposal.

·       Receive a further report with detailed proposals following the Inter Authority Workshop.

·       Submit a further report if there is a delay in one of the high-level milestones for year 1

The report was presented by Hedd Vaughan-Evans, Head of Operations and Iain Taylor, AMION Consulting.

RESOLVED:

It was agreed:

·       Accept the update report

·       Review the proposed outline arrangements for the Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone Advisory Board and advise on the proposal.

·       Review the proposed Delegation and Decision Framework and advise on the proposal.

·       Receive a further report with detailed proposals following the Inter-Authority Workshop

·       Submit a further report if there was a delay in one of the high-level milestones for year 1.

DISCUSSION

The report was presented stating that it provided an update and highlighted the future framework and timetable. It was highlighted that the plan introduced Zone 4 back in May, and that they hoped to receive feedback in June, and that any significant changes that will require the interventions to come back to the CJC will be agreed on.

It was explained that the team was preparing Portal 5 to be delivered, with key elements including Investment Zone milestones, Investment Zone Programme and Investment Zone Risk Register. Attention was drawn to the key milestone table highlighting dates up to the end of December.

Moving forward, it was highlighted that the scheme has a budget of £10m and will be working with Cyngor Gwynedd and the Welsh Government to spend this. The need to establish the Advisory Board was noted, as set out in Portal 3. It was noted that an interim Advisory Board was in place for the interim period and the need to create an additional skills sub-board was highlighted, which was in the process of being undertaken.

It was explained following the 2024 Call for Projects, that a wide range of potential investment schemes and significant demand for a support programme have been identified. It was explained that the investment opportunity process had identified the need to invest in essential infrastructure to unlock the largest development sites. It was noted that there will be a need to move quickly. It was explained that a business case has been accepted for Project Prince by Knauf Insulation and an Outline Project Plan has been received by Pochin/Goodman for their land at Airfields, Deeside. It was expressed that Airbus was developing the case for the Advanced Manufacturing Centre next to their Deeside campus.

It was explained that a workshop between the CJC and Flintshire and Wrexham County Councils was planned for the end of June, in order to work through the details of how decisions will be made and how the programme will operate under delegations from the CJC. It was noted that key principles included that the CJC delegates the operation of responsibility of the Accountable Body to the Economic Wellbeing Sub-Committee, and that the sub-committee allocates resources to support, to manage the assurance process for all projects above a £5m grant application. It was expressed that there were implications for administering £160m of the Flexible Grant Funding and allocations for Tax Relief, particularly Business Rates Relief. It was clarified that detailed financial arrangements as set  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10