To submit the
report of the Council Leader (attached).
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 of
Economy and Community was invited to present a slide on the specific benefits
for Gwynedd, namely:-
·
Improved digital connectivity for businesses,
residents and visitors.
·
Access to facilities, equipment, support and
specialist research for Gwynedd food and drink businesses by means of an
investment at the Glynllifon site.
·
Access to innovative research and support with
sustainable farming techniques for farming businesses in Gwynedd.
·
Supply chain opportunities and jobs as a result of
capital projects such as Morlais, Holyhead Port, etc.
·
Opportunities for renewable energy initiatives within
the Smart Local Energy Project and an investment in the Low Carbon Energy
Centre of Excellence at Bangor University.
·
Investment of £20m in the infrastructure of the Trawsfynydd site for the development of innovative low
carbon energy.
·
Opportunities to develop strategic sites as part of
the long-term Land and Property programme including the Bryn Cegin site.
It was also
stressed that the Growth Deal was one programme, and there were other projects
that would add value, and would build on this throughout Gwynedd.
The Head of
Finance was invited to give an overview of the financial implications. It was noted:-
·
That the grant funding would become consistent from
both Governments over the 15 years, however, the expenditure would be
accelerated over the first six years.
·
It would be necessary to borrow to deal with this cash
flow, and as the host authority, Gwynedd would facilitate this for its partners
by establishing a system that would give a reasonable and consistent
contribution over the fifteen years to pay the borrowing costs.
·
As the timing of the payments nor the interest rates
were known as yet, all partners had been given a range and the range for
Gwynedd varied between £80,000 - £118,000 per annum.
·
Governance Agreement 2 ensured that no partner would
be able to walk away without paying their share of these costs.
The Monitoring
Officer was invited to give an overview of the governance agreement and the
legal implications. It was noted:-
·
That Governance Agreement 2 would transfer us to an
operational period and to achieve the Growth Deal and the Growth Vision.
·
The agreement created a legal framework that committed
every partner to their contributions, and no one could walk away from the
agreement except at the expense of also respecting their financial commitments
for the future.
·
That there were governance arrangements within the
agreement that support the Ambition Board and provide for matters such as
scrutiny and financial management and staffing etc.
Members were then given an opportunity to make observations and ask
questions. Individual members submitted
the following observations:-
·
It was noted that the plan
was ambitious, and this was to be welcomed.
There was a tough time ahead of us, and it was good that we had this
type of plan to hand.
·
Concern was expressed that
so few of these projects were in Dwyfor and
Meirionnydd. The importance of being
flexible and brave was emphasised and to do everything possible to assist
projects with the potential to bring a high number of jobs to those areas, and
it was asked how companies who wish to make an investment in the county could
participate in the Growth Deal.
·
The fact that this was a
plan that had been developed in north Wales was welcomed and that it created
quality jobs with good wages that will allow young people to live and work in
their communities.
·
Reference was made to one of
the key principles of the Growth Vision, namely focusing on retaining young
people, increasing employment levels and improving skills to achieve inclusive
growth, and it was strongly felt that this plan would assist to respond to the
concerns of parents that there were not enough quality work opportunities here
in the north West.
·
It was noted that there was no work or housing for
young people in areas such as Pen Llŷn and
concern was expressed that companies that benefit from the Growth Deal will
move on in due course and take the grants with them.
·
It was noted that 2021 would
also be a challenging year, however, the Growth Deal would give us a reason to
be positive and optimistic, and the venture was wished every success.
·
The importance of doing
everything to encourage and assist new businesses was emphasised.
·
Concern was expressed
regarding the decision of the North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council to
withdraw their membership from the Ambition Board.
·
Concern was expressed
regarding the lack of doctors, dentists, vets and carers in Gwynedd.
·
Concern was expressed that
the counties in the East would take all the funding and that the North West
would not see much benefit.
·
It was noted that it was
difficult to get projects in mid-Wales and the importance of collaboration with
the Mid-Wales Growth Deal was emphasised.
It was also noted that the road network was a barrier to investment in
the south of the county.
·
It was noted that the south
of Meirionnydd was one of the poorest areas in Europe, and it was greatly hoped
that the situation would be totally changed within 10 years.
·
It was noted that talking of an investment of £1.1b
for north Wales was a dream, and it was feared that we would be stood waiting
for the £722m from the private sector.
·
Concern was expressed that
we had been tied to Deeside and Wrexham, where the largest population resided
and the area that would get the most benefit.
·
Pride was expressed that
Gwynedd was collaborating as a full partner in the board, and led on this
important plan.
·
It was emphasised that it
was necessary to reinforce the agri-food industry and
it was also noted that the future was low carbon energy and digital schemes.
·
The fact that Parc Cegin, Bangor would be fully
used was welcomed.
·
It was noted that there
should be a campaign to establish a school of medicine, dentistry and
veterinary science as part of Bangor University.
·
Concern was expressed that
the growth plans split Wales, and this at a time of national unity, by merging
the north with Merseyside, Mid-Wales with Birmingham and the south with
Bristol.
·
It was noted that it was
understood that Warrington would be the centre to check paperwork for lorries transporting goods from Holyhead to Ireland
following Brexit, and it was asked why this centre
would not be established on Anglesey, or even at Parc
Cegin, Bangor, considering the proximity of the site
to the A55.
·
It was noted that there was
no reference in the papers to Arfor, or recognition
that Wylfa newydd had ever
been underway.
·
It was noted that the vision
was to be praised, however, creating a connection with the north of England was
opposed, as this would weaken us as a nation.
·
Our representatives were asked
to ensure that a fair share of the funding came to Gwynedd.
·
It was suggested that every
member who had spoken against the plan should consider what was their 'Plan B',
asking if they had £1.1b to spend on job creation for young people in Gwynedd,
because without this, how could they vote against the plan?
In response to the observations and questions from members, it was
noted:-
·
That it was wished that Dwyfor and Meirionnydd would see a benefit. It had been a
difficult process to ensure the fair distribution of the projects across all
the councils, however, it was believed that this had been managed. There were
projects that would cross every geographical boundary e.g. the digital project
and community low carbon energy projects, and elements of the agricultural
projects would also assist the whole county.
·
In terms of procurement
arrangements, the Portfolio Office was working on a procurement strategy that
would enable local companies to apply for some of the work that would come from
the Growth Deal. It had to be ensured
that the contract was not too large, or presented in a way that would prevent
local companies from being able to benefit from it. Using local companies to the maximum was a
fundamental principle for us in the north, and especially in Gwynedd as our
purpose as an Ambition Board was to support our local companies first.
·
In terms of investments, part of the vision was to
create a more attractive north Wales for investors, not necessarily to invest
directly in one of the Growth Deal’s projects, however, as the Growth Deal
projects create better resources for investors looking to locate or re-locate.
·
Concerns about companies
establishing here and then moving away were understood, however, the purpose of
the Growth Deal was not to throw funding at companies to come here to
establish, but to create an environment that was appealing to businesses and to
assist them. It was added that local businesses craved places to work from.
Many new businesses had been established during the Covid
period, and every assistance and support needed to be given to them.
·
That the support of the
North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council to all the activities of the Ambition
Board had been significant, however, they looked at their own activity
following Covid and saw that they had to focus their
scarce resources to support their members.
However, they continued to be part of the activity, and they had been
part of facilitating a virtual conference recently with 200 businesses. The
Board also looked at ideas in terms of how to improve engagement with the
business sector, and the Business Support Group, namely a collection of very
prominent business owners in the north, also did very good work in terms of
supporting and scrutinising the Board's work.
·
That the pessimism of some
members regarding the plan was not shared.
Risks were involved with everything of course; however, this plan should
be confidently embraced.
·
It was not proposed to
forget about the county's rural areas, and the 6 authorities were equal in
terms of influence on the Board, with considerable trust between the political
leaders and everyone's wish was to ensure that any benefit from the plan should
be spread fairly across the north.
·
Any development within the
Council's area or the National Park Authority was subject to local planning
policies, and although it was the Council who set those policies, our ability
to vary them was fairly limited due to national policies. The private sector stated that the process
of getting planning permission and consents from other relevant agencies had to
be easier, and this message had been conveyed to the ministers several times. There was also room for
us to influence if we felt justice was not being done.
·
That our economic, transport
and social connections were close with Powys and Ceredigion, and although we
had been invited to attend meeting of the Mid Wales Growth Committee we were
not recognised as full partners. This
was a matter of concern and frustration, however, it was intended to continue
to press them regarding this.
·
It was considered that the partnership across the
North had brought the counties of the East closer to us than ever before. Although it was possible for Flintshire and
Wrexham to turn their sights towards Chester and Liverpool, they had chosen to
turn towards counties in the West as they were part of Wales and there was an
excellent and close connection in particular with the leaders of Flintshire and
Wrexham.
·
That the investments we as a
Council give to the Growth Plan were some tens of thousands, however, in due
course this would bear fruit and would be benefit of hundreds of thousands.
RESOLVED
(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.
Supporting documents: