Agenda and decisions

To receive any apologies for absence.

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

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

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the meeting held on 05 December 2025 be signed as a true record.

Hedd Voughan-Evans, Head of Operations, to present the report.

DECISION

1.     To note the Quarter 3 Performance Report and updated Portfolio Risk Register. 

2.     To approve the submission of the Quarter 3 Performance Report to the Welsh Government and UK Government, as well as the local authority scrutiny committees.

Dewi Morgan, Head of Finance, and Sian Pugh, Assistant Head of Finance, to present the report.

1.     To approve the Growth Deal revenue budget for 2026/27.

2.     To note the funding contributions, including partner contributions, local government supplementary contributions and partner interest contributions.

Dewi Morgan, Head of Finance, and Sian Pugh, Assistant Head of Finance, to present the report.

1.     To note and accept the revenue end of December 2025, including the reserves position.

2.     To note and accept the Growth Deal’s revised capital expenditure profile.

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

·       To approve the Annual Delivery Plan's investment allocations for Year 2 and note the Year 1 allocations that will be used as a part of the Year 2 programme.

·       To approve the Investment Zone Programme, including a £4m allocation to the Wrexham University Business Gateway.

·       To authorise the CJC's Section 151 Officer to sign and issue the ADP documents to the UK Government and Welsh Government and make any further non-material amendments necessary to agree the ADP with the UK Government and Welsh Government.

The Chair shall propose that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the discussions on the following items due to the likely disclosure of exempt information defined in Paragraph 14 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972: Information relating to the financial business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

There is an acknowledged public interest in openness in relation to the use of public resources and related financial issues. It is also acknowledged that there are occasions, in order to protect the financial and commercial 5 - 17 18 - 55 interests that matters related to such information need to be discussed without being publicised. The report deals specifically with financial and business matter and related discussions. Publication of such commercially sensitive information could adversely affect the interests of the bodies and the CJC and undermine the confidence of other Growth Deal participants in sharing sensitive information for consideration. This would be contrary to the wider public interest of securing the best overall outcome.

A vote was taken on the proposal to exclude the press and public, and Councillor Nia Jeffreys abstained her vote on this item.

Hedd Vaughan-Evans, Head of Operations, to present the report.

To support the request for change from the Welsh Government and allocate additional funding from the Growth Deal and Investment Zone, subject to:

1.     ⁠Reaching an agreement on matters discussed in section 6.3(a) and (b) of the report.

2.     That the investment noted in part 6.3(c) of the report will be a funding condition to be implemented prior to the approval of the Full Business Case and/or for it to be included in the Grant Funding Agreement, whichever comes first.

3.     That the approval of the Full Business Case will be subject to the investment decisions in section 6.3(d).

To delegate to the Portfolio Director to discuss with the Welsh Government and UK Government the conditions imposed with final approval to be sought from the Economic Well-being Sub-committee (subject to the advice of the Monitoring Officer), in consultation with the Chair and Vice-chair.

That the Sub-committee notes that the splitting of funding between the Growth Deal and Investment Zone is the subject of separate discussions and decisions prior to the approval of the Full Business Case.

Elliw Hughes, Growth Deal Programme Manager, to present the report.

To approve the Outline Business Case for the Wrexham Business Gateway Project, subject to the approval of Welsh Government and UK Government to the assurance process held, and that Wrexham University addresses the matters noted in the report, as described in Section 7, and ask for the Full Business Case to be prepared for the Sub-committee's consideration.

To authorise the Portfolio Director in consultation with the Chair, the Vice-chair, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer to agree on draft terms in accordance with this report as a basis for the final funding arrangements for the project to be committed subject to Full Business Case approval.

That the approval from the Sub-Committee is valid for a period of twelve months and should the project not proceed to an approved Full Business Case during this time, it will be required to return and re-present the business case to the Sub-committee for approval. 

To note the intention to split the funding between the Growth Deal and Investment Zone and that this position will be confirmed at Full Business Case stage.