Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from:-

·       Councillor Hugh Jones (Wrexham County Borough Council) (Vice-Chair)

·       Iwan Evans (Monitoring Officer)

·       Sian Pugh (Assistant Head of Finance)

To receive any declarations of personal interest.

There were no declarations of personal interest.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair for  consideration.

No urgent matters were raised.

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the meeting held 06/05/25 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 May 2025 as a true record.

The Chief Executive and the Regional Strategic Planning Officer to present the report.

To recommend to the Corporate Joint Committee that it is ready to approve the draft Delivery Agreement following consultation and submit it to the Welsh Government, subject to the SDP funding decision.

The report was submitted by the Regional Strategic Development Planning Officer.

RESOLVED

To recommend to the Corporate Joint Committee that it is ready to approve the draft Delivery Agreement following consultation and submit it to the Welsh Government, subject to the SDP funding decision.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

The Strategic Planning Sub-Committee is responsible for preparing the draft Delivery Agreement. The sub-committee has co-ordination and planning functions relating to each step towards delivering the SDP.

DISCUSSION

Members were reminded that they had approved to hold a public consultation on the Strategic Development Plan Delivery Agreement in draft form for a six-week period, at an informal meeting of this Sub-committee held on 27 June 2025. It was updated that the public consultation had now concluded confirming that this report presented the feedback and responses received from the public and stakeholders.

It was reported that the Strategic Development Plan Delivery Plan had been approved by the Corporate Joint Committee at its meeting on 18 July 2025 and that the responses received as part of the consultation contributed to an update of that document.

It was noted that Officers had invited a large number of stakeholders and partners to participate in the public consultation, in order to ensure an open process. It was updated that 16 formal responses had been received to the public consultation from a number of organisations such as Local Authorities and specific officers within them, the Welsh Language Commissioner, community groups and Heneb. It was acknowledged that the number of responses that had been received was not high, but it was assured that the comments received were of a high standard and that this process was key to raising awareness of the Strategic Development Plan as a whole.

It was noted that a revised version of the responses received as part of the public consultation had been circulated to Members following the publication of the Agenda for this meeting. It was clarified that the consultation had not ended when the documentation of this meeting was being published and a number of the responses had reached Officers on the last day of the consultation. It was considered important that members received all the information that had come to hand and therefore a revised version of the responses was shared with Members, with the consent of the Chair.

It was highlighted that the responses asked whether sufficient time had been earmarked for consultative exercises. It was explained that the statutory requirements of ensuring that public consultations were held for a six-week period were adhered to in order to ensure legislative compliance. It was also noted that the Joint Committee had powers to extend the periods of public consultations if it wished to do so.

It was emphasised that a number of responses to the consultation highlighted Welsh language considerations. They were thanked for their comments and assured that the Welsh language received ongoing consideration within the work of the Joint Committee.

It was explained that a number of respondents had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chief Executive and the Regional Strategic Planning Officer to present the report.

To approve the funding issues and options set out in the attached briefing note and to recommend that the Corporate Joint Committee considers all options for funding the SDP, including making further representations to the Welsh Government. The officers were asked to revise the wording of the Report to highlight budgetary expectations between the Government and the CJC and encourage a steady financial contribution from the Government in order to avoid the need for temporary grants when setting the long-term budget.

The report was submitted by the Regional Strategic Development Planning Officer.

RESOLVED

To approve the funding issues and options set out in the attached briefing note and to recommend that the Corporate Joint Committee considers all options for funding the SDP, including making further representations to the Welsh Government. The officers were asked to revise the wording of the Report to highlight budgetary expectations between the Government and the CJC and encourage a steady financial contribution from the Government in order to avoid the need for temporary grants when setting the long-term budget.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

Ensure that the Strategic Planning Sub-Committee is fully aware of the funding issues and options relating to the SDP to inform their recommendations to the CJC.

DISCUSSION

It was explained that the report highlighted options relating to funding the production of the Strategic Development Plan, prior to the preparation of budgets for the autumn term. A group of North Wales' chief planning officers were thanked for their work in investigating various financial issues associated with the Plan. It was noted that further consideration could be given to the financial issues that had been prepared by Officers to date, as Members had approved the submission of a draft version of the Strategic Development Plan to the Corporate Joint Committee earlier during this meeting.

Members were reminded that the Corporate Joint Committee had a legal duty by statute to develop a Strategic Development Plan as well as its funding. It was noted that officers had received a number of comments considering whether the Welsh Government should fund the Plan and the process of setting it up but in response, it was confirmed that no long-term plan had been submitted by the Government for the funding making it a requirement for the Joint Committee to comply with the statutory requirements.

Although no long-term budget had been earmarked by the Welsh Government, it was reported that they had identified a budget of approximately £400,000 which applied to all Welsh Corporate Joint Committees. It was noted that this funding would not be shared equally between the Joint Committees, , it would be allocated in accordance with the performance of the Joint Committees to develop their Delivery Plan for approval. It was explained that the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee was keen to ensure that progress was made on the Strategic Development Plan Delivery Plan during this financial year to be able to attract this funding to contribute to the funding of the Plan. It was estimated that approximately £100,000 of this funding could be applied for following the 19 September 2025 meeting of the Corporate Joint Committee, if members approved the draft Delivery Plan. It was explained that if an additional financial commitment to contribute to the Plan's budget could be confirmed within the current financial year, it would be possible to apply for an additional £200,000 of this grant funding offered by the Welsh Government.

Pride was expressed that the Joint Committee's budgeting work had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.