Agenda item

Cabinet Member – Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn

 

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report and to note the observations and accept that mitigation measures are in place to respond to risks.

 

The Assistant Head of Economy and Community Department and Ambition North Wales officers were welcomed to the meeting.

 

Submitted – the report of the Leader that presented the Quarter 3 report of the Growth Deal and the Portfolio's Risk Register and invited the committee to scrutinise the performance of Ambition North Wales in implementing the Growth Deal and to accept that mitigation measures were in place to respond to the risks.

 

After the Assistant Head of Economy and Community Department said a few words at the beginning, the Senior Operations Manager gave a short introduction setting the context and summarised the information submitted in the written report. She explained, as we were nearing the end of the financial year, that the report looked further than Quarter 3, by looking back on the progress of the last year, and was also looking ahead to the coming year. The Low Carbon Energy Programme Manager then gave an overview of the Energy Programme. ⁠

 

The Senior Operations Officer apologised that Alwen Williams, Ambition North Wales Portfolio Director could not be present at the meeting.

 

Members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and submit observations. 

 

An enquiry was made as to how many of the 4,200 additional jobs referred to in the presentation would come to Gwynedd. In response, it was explained that the 4,200 jobs were across all projects and programmes. The answer was not at hand, but the figures could be provided to members.

 

It was emphasised that the number of jobs for Gwynedd, and possibly Conwy and the Isle of Anglesey, were of interest to members of this committee. It was noted that the Peblig Ward, Caernarfon was amongst the poorest 10% in Wales and that the Bevan Foundation's latest report on Poverty in Arfon noted that more jobs that paid well were needed in the area to tackle poverty. It was asked whether there was real hope that any plans would come to the Parc Bryn Cegin site in Bangor, especially with the advent of the Free Port in Anglesey and establishing a new Economic Investment Zone in the east. It was noted that Anglesey could offer many more incentives to businesses than we could offer in Gwynedd, and it was asked how we could ensure investment in this part of Wales.

 

In response, it was noted that:-

·         The Ambition North Wales officers collaborated very closely with the Isle of Anglesey Council within the partnership, and that there was a working relationship between the Leaders of both county councils through the Ambition Board.  It was noted that the Ambition North Wales Team received updates from the Isle of Anglesey Council on the Free Port.

·         The Ambition North Wales have now committed to a Joint Venture Agreement with the Welsh Government to carry out the Parc Bryn Cegin project and the Welsh Government had appointed a consultation team to take the project through the planning permission stage. Work was ongoing on the high-level costs and on amending the plan for the plot and main plan, and it was believed that a final draft of the outline business case would be available by May.

·         The Growth Deal projects had to include a strong benefits plan that indicated how the projects would create jobs locally and promote local skills. It was noted that Ambition North Wales had collaborated very closely with the Regional Skills Partnership, and also with the colleges and universities, with the aim of ensuring that the skills provision was available locally when the projects were progressing.

·         It must be acknowledged that the Growth Deal was a regional plan and the type of projects that were suitable for the investment were capital projects that led to direct growth, and therefore, would possibly favour urban areas where the market was at its strongest.

·         The concern was expressed regarding the possible impact of the Free Port on Gwynedd. It was understood that there was an intention to try and avoid any displacement from other areas into the Free Port areas, but knowing how to achieve this was required.

·         Planning permission had been granted during the previous year to develop some of the other plots on Parc Bryn Cegin. It was hoped that this highlighted that the private sector also had an interest in the site, and that ensuring an investment or two on the site would be a huge step in the right direction to make the most of the potential the site offered.

·         The work of developing the Gwynedd Economy Plan would proceed over the next year and there was no doubt that aspects from the Growth Programme would also be incorporated in that, namely wider aspects than the specific type of investment only relevant to the Growth Programme.

 

In response to further questions regarding the units on Parc Bryn Cegin, it was noted that:-

·         There was an intention to take advantage of the opportunity through the Growth Deal to provide ready-made units on Parc Bryn Cegin.

·         The number of units that would be constructed on the site could not be confirmed until the preparatory work in terms of developing the requirements of the market etc. had been completed. It was also noted that there was a desire to try and trial units that would meet future environmental requirements.

·         It was hoped that the preparatory work would be completed by the Autumn.

 

The honest opinion of Ambition North Wales officers was requested regarding the impact of the Free Port. It was noted that there were no answers for us in Gwynedd in terms of how to avoid displacement because of the tax advantages offered to businesses that were established in the Free Port area. It was further noted, as we were overdependent on the public sector in Gwynedd, that there was a real need for investment from the private sector. More information was also requested regarding the Tourism Talent Network Programme, as well as an explanation why the RAG status of the Agri-Food and Tourism Programme was orange overall. In response, it was noted that:-

·         It was not considered that the officers in the meeting were the best people to convey the official opinion of the Ambition North Wales regarding the Free Port, and it was possible to return to the members at this point after consulting with the Portfolio Director.

·         David Mathews, Land and Property Programme Manager - Ambition North Wales, had a very close working relationship with Isle of Anglesey Council officers through the Holyhead Port project.

·         The Free Port's figures in terms of creating jobs were very high, and there was no doubt that some of these jobs would go beyond the boundaries of Isle of Anglesey only.

·         The Isle of Anglesey Council was currently going through the business plan process for the Free Port, and as a result of that, more details would be coming through on the content of the proposal etc.  In the meantime, the Team in Ambition North Wales had received regular updates on the process to be able to try and identify opportunities to collaborate with the Isle of Anglesey.

·         Close connections already existed with some of the Growth Deal's projects, namely Holyhead Hydrogen Hub, Morlais and Energy Project that was located within the Free Port area.

 

As the member that asked the question regarding the Tourism Talent Network Programme and the performance of the Agri-Food and Tourism Programme lost connection with the meeting before the question was answered, the Chair asked the Senior Operations Officer to provide a written response for him. ⁠ ⁠

 

It was noted that:-

·         ⁠It was not understood why the Ambition Board was called 'North Wales Economic Ambition Board⁠', instead of 'The Ambition Board of the North’ and perhaps that message should be conveyed to the new Minister for the Economy in the Welsh Government.

·         In reality, it was an Ambition Board for the A55 because the travel time from large parts of Gwynedd to Caernarfon was longer than from Caernarfon to Deeside. The officers had acknowledged that the Growth Deal favoured urban areas, but wards such as Harlech and Llanbedr did not include urban areas, and they were not close to any urban areas. 

·         It was disappointing that the Council Leader and the Ambition North Wales Portfolio Director could not be present at the meeting to answer scrutinisers' questions.

·         There was also a wish to express disappointment regarding the content of the report as there was no reference to Meirionnydd, except for Trawsfynydd (Cwmni Egino), which was currently very far away. Statements were seen in the press noting that the First Minister of Wales, in his previous post, gave money towards developments in Llanbedr airfield, but there was no reference to this in the report. It was suggested that an enquiry should be made to the new Minister for the Economy to see whether they would continue to look at having developments in Llanbedr airfield. It was noted that the old Development Board for Rural Wales was missed, it was highly praised for its work in the Meirionnydd area, but unfortunately, it was not believed that the Growth Deal would bring any benefits to that part of Gwynedd. 

 

In response to the last observation, it was noted that a fund of £25m would be available under the Smart Local Energy Project to support local / community projects and small businesses to de-carbonise more effectively and that the Digital Programme projects that looked at improving digital connectivity would also help the less populated areas.

 

It was enquired whether the UK Government's recent statement regarding purchasing the Wylfa site would impact the Trawsfynydd Project. In response, it was noted that:-

·         As well as making a statement regarding purchasing the Wylfa site, the UK Government had also undertaken a consultation on the new National Policy Statement to localise nuclear energy generation stations after 2025, that gave developers the opportunity to put themselves forward, instead of the Government naming the sites.

·         It also seemed that the policy looked at more alternative ways to come into the market, and possibly open more options for private companies, such as Cwmni Egino, to come in. 

·         It was difficult to say what impact this could have on the Trawsfynydd Project unless there was more confirmation from the UK Government regarding which SMR technologies were intended to be used, and whether those technologies would suit Trawsfynydd or not.

·         It was believed that the Trawsfynydd Project still had an opportunity, as the sites that the UK Government currently looked at, as well as other sites such as Trawsfynydd, would not be enough to achieve the Government's target in terms of developing nuclear capacity.

 

It was noted, in the previous meeting of the full Council, the matter of apprenticeships in the construction field etc. in Grŵp Llandrillo Menai colleges and the cuts that were going to be presented in the number of courses provided had arisen. It was enquired, following the members' observations, and considering the 4,200 jobs that would be created, how much collaboration was there with the educational providers in the short-term to prepare our young people for these jobs. ⁠It was suggested, despite the expression and the desire, that the type of situation seen recently with Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, for example, did not suggest that this discussion had occurred in a cohesive and consistent way. In response, it was noted that:-

·         This was a point that was very much alive for Ambition North Wales. The Ambition Board had sent a letter of concern regarding the situation and Ruthin's Jones Bros Company, developers of the Former North Wales Hospital Project, Denbigh, had also expressed concern regarding the same matter.

·         There was a very close connection between the Growth Deal programmes and the skills and employment element as the Regional Skills Partnership was part of the Ambition North Wales Team. Also, the Skills Partnership had specifically contacted Grŵp Llandrillo Menai to prepare and try to produce courses where there were current gaps to ensure that workers were available when the work opportunities arose.

·         The Skills Partnership would release an annual report detailing the cross-section of jobs, not only the innovative things, but also the necessary crafts, and look at the numbers that would come through.

 

It was enquired, considering the current pressures on the public sector and the difficult environment in terms of the private sector, whether there was a risk that not much of what was in the Growth Deal would be achieved due to a lack of inward investment. In response, it was noted that:-

·         The economic circumstances had substantially changed since the Growth Deal was agreed in 2020, but Ambition North Wales had an agreement with both governments that the £1bn investment must be attracted to North Wales, and that being through contributions from the public sector and the private sector, and that all of this had been broken down for each project.

·         As part of the business plan process, very detailed financial work would be made to ensure that the investments originally outlined would happen, or that it would be possible to find other sources if the circumstances changed.

·         Ambition North Wales worked very closely with the private sector through the Business Delivery Board, which had many connections and broad experiences within the business sector in the north.

·         The Ambition Board had approved a new Investment Strategy for North Wales to attract a Growth Deal and wider economic development in North Wales, that included investment principles and was based on research completed jointly with Savilles Company and the Business Delivery Board.

·         The Investment Strategy would be a key document in terms of ensuring investment into the region. It was noted that an investment had already been made through the Digital Signal Processing Centre (DSP) in Bangor University and it was also hoped to see an investment from the Enterprise Engineering and the Optic Centre Project which are now operational.

·         The projects that had been originally assessed and developed attracted the type of investment that might mean private investment, or jointly. It was noted that there was a risk associated with this, and it had been presented as a risk in the risk assessment, but an integral part of the Growth Deal was to consider what were the opportunities for the private sector.

·         One of the challenges was that the work of developing outline strategic plans, the outline business plans and the full business plans meant very thorough work in terms of the detail of the proposals, but the advantage in doing so would be to reduce the risk by ensuring that the details were robust.

·         Developing the details, by considering the requirements of the markets and the practical and management risks etc. for each work stream, was likely to create the conditions that would attract an investment from the private sector, and responded to the real living risk highlighted.

 

It was noted that it was a difficult period for local energy companies because the price of renewable energy had reduced to 6 pence per kilowatt, and that there were also challenges associated with transporting energy from the local area to the National Grid due to people's objection to pylons etc. In response, it was noted that:-

·         A shift was anticipated in terms of developing local energy, from supplying the Grid to generating energy locally for local need. This would also allow energy companies to sell the electricity on a slightly larger scale to local customers, that would save money compared to if they bought it from the big companies.

·         It was attempted to help local communities and businesses to be a part of such projects. Ynni Cymru would also work in this field to develop projects that would hopefully be able to be copied across the north.

 

It was asked whether Ambition North Wales collaborated with Mid-Wales Growth, considering that south Meirionnydd had more connections with mid-Wales than the north. In response, it was noted that:-

·         Ambition North Wales collaborated closely with Mid-Wales Growth, and that many of mid-Wales and the north's projects were similar to each other.

·         Any opportunities to collaborate and share good practice, for example in the digital field, was taken advantage of, and Robyn Lovelock, Ambition North Wales’ Agri-food and Tourism Programme Manager, had jointly led with officers from mid-Wales on the Agri-food Launchpad following the announcement in the UK Government's Spring Budget. Additional information could be provided to members if they wished.

 

Concern was expressed that the Growth Deal projects did not move forward as fast as they should, and it was asked whether there was a risk that the plans would slip, for example, the Glynllifon Rural Economy Hub Project, because the timetable was too lengthy to bring the plans to action. In response, it was noted that:-

·         The point was understood, but although the Partnership had been established in 2012, the Growth Deal was not signed until 2020 because of the work of establishing the Growth Vision for North Wales.

·         The situation of the economy, planning matters etc. and the need to collaborate with other agencies had led to slippages on some projects.

·         The fact that two projects were now operational was a big step forward for the Team and it was hoped to deliver more projects this year.

·         The Growth Deal was a long-term plan of over 15 years and each project would not commence at the same time.

·         The business planning process, which was a requirement from the Government, was an extremely detailed and complex process that meant that each project had to go through a strategic business plan, an outline business case and a full business case that looked in detail at five cases, including the economic case, the commercial case and the financial case.

·         The Team in Ambition North Wales had been trained to do the work, and tried to go through the process as fast as they could. A report was received last year that noted the need for the Team to focus more on moving towards being operational, and that gave the officers a big focus. Resources were diverted to projects to be able to move some projects forward faster and the Team looked at projects that were more or less ready to go and worked daily to move the plans forward to get the approval of the Ambition Board to be operational.

 

It was enquired what other projects were expected to be delivered in the next year or two. In response, it was noted that it was hoped that more projects would come forward before the end of this year, including the 4G+ Project, Former Denbigh North Wales Hospital Project and the Tourism Talent Network Project.

 

It was noticed that paragraph 2.2.4 of the report noted that procurement activities on Connecting the Last Few % Project had been suspended until the UK Government had confirmed the launch date of their new intervention, and it was asked whether they had received confirmation of that as the report noted that it was expected to be confirmed in Q3 23/24 to be launched in 2024. In response, it was noted that it was not believed that the UK Government had given a response, but that could be checked with Stuart Whitfield, the Digital Programme Manager, by providing a written response to the members if there was not an update on the matter.

 

Concern was expressed regarding the Glynllifon Rural Economy Hub Project, that was noted in red in the RAG status column in the performance table, and the potential of this project moving forward was enquired. It was also noted that there were no projects in Dwyfor and that local projects, and projects in the agricultural world, were important to the rural areas of Gwynedd. In response, it was noted that:-

·         Ambition North Wales continued to support the Glynllifon Project and acknowledged the detrimental impact that the project would have on Gwynedd and on the sector and the economy regionally.

·         The timetable had slipped, mainly due to planning matters, but also because of the statutory designations, that meant that surveys had to be prepared over a period of a few months, instead of a short period of time.

·         Should a planning application be submitted, it would be the subject of observations by Natural Resources Wales and Cadw because of the statutory designations, and the site was therefore very complex.

·         The College had appointed a comprehensive team to address these matters and had invested in the preparatory work, with a meeting arranged for the next month to get an update on the work.

·         It was hoped that the mitigation measures identified to respond to the biodiversity matters, and also perhaps in terms of the historical assets within Glynllifon, were sufficient to be supported in terms of planning.

·         As Parc Glynllifon's owner, the Council worked closely with the College to try and develop a long-term vision for Glynllifon and saw the College's plan as an important part of the vision for the Parc.

 

It was expressed that they hoped that the new generation who would need to adopt skills would be able to do so locally in this area in the future. In response, it was noted that:-

·         Ensuring a local workforce for the future was an important part of the business plan and the business management plan that come from the Growth Deal projects.

·         Many energy projects would be created in the next few years, such as sea projects, nuclear projects and wind and solar projects, and a great deal of work had been done to look at what would be the requirements of these sectors.

·         The Regional Skills Partnership had undertaken a great deal of work surrounding the green skills needed in the north, and had worked closely with the colleges and universities to ensure that it was possible to provide this.

·         Many of the skills needed in places such as Trawsfynydd or Wylfa, such as mechanical and electrical skills, would be very similar to numerous other projects, and there would be many opportunities for individuals to learn those skills and move forward from one project to the next.

 

It was enquired whether the Growth Deal was on track to achieve the target of investing £1bn by 2027/2028, as noted in the Portfolio's profile in 2021. In response, it was noted that:-

·         There was an amended profile in the Committee's papers, and since then, another profile had been approved by the Ambition Board in their meeting on 15 March.

·         The new figures were not to hand, but a link could be shared with the members to the amended paper on the budget.

 

          RESOLVED to accept the report and to note the observations, and accept that mitigation measures were in place to respond to the risks.