Agenda item

Alwen Williams (CJC Interim Chief Executive) and David Hole (CJC Implementation Programme Manager) to present the report.

To approve the Case for Change including the Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

To support the commencement of public consultation on the draft Regional Transport Plan.

The report was presented by  Alwen Williams, Interim Chief Executive of the CJC and David Hole, Corporate Joint Committee Implementation Programme Manager.

DECISION

To approve the Case for Change including the Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

To support the commencement of public consultation on the draft Regional Transport Plan.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted highlighting that the Plans that had previously been submitted had received approval from the Strategic Transport Sub-Committee at its meeting on 16 December, 2024. It was explained that the Case for Change Plan and the Stakeholder Engagement Plan were a critical procedural step in developing the North Wales Regional Transport Plan and creating a necessary foundation to begin a public consultation on 20 January. The Joint Committee was asked to approve both Plans and support the commencement of a public consultation.

Information was shared on an approximate timeline summarising the key milestones for reaching the publication of an RTP. The intention was to run a consultation from 20 January until 14 April, which was a period of 12 weeks. It was noted that a copy of the RTP policy document was included in Appendix 3 of the report and it was noted that all supporting documents were ready to be launched as part of the consultation if the Joint Committee was supportive today.

Pride was expressed in the work that had been completed by ARUP and the important work that had been done by Transport for Wales as part of the process of gathering all the information ready to go out to consultation. It was highlighted that North Wales would be the first region to go out to public consultation on the RTP and that this was a source of pride that recognised the work that had gone on since October 2024 to have all the documentation ready.

The Interim Chief Executive of the CJC and the team were thanked for their work to ensure everything was ready for the public consultation, recognising the importance of the work.

Further thanks were expressed to the Interim Chief Executive of the CJC for attending a briefing session for Ynys Môn elected members during the week which had been very beneficial. It was confirmed that the elected members had been encouraging their third sector partners to take part in the consultation.

Assurances were sought that the Welsh language would be given due attention in the consultation and that there was also consideration of face-to-face as well as digital engagement. It was added that it was important to have opportunities for people to respond and engage through the medium of Welsh. The Interim Chief Executive of the CJC confirmed that all documentation was bilingual with Welsh appearing first within the consultation. It was reported that a virtual room had been created in collaboration with ARUP and that the Welsh language appeared first on all of these virtual tables. They added that a telephone line had been set up which would be open for the public to call which would also offer Welsh language provision to anyone who wanted to discuss or give feedback in Welsh. It was noted that the only documentation that has not been fully translated into Welsh was highly technical documentation to support the consultation.

In terms of face-to-face engagement, it was expressed that the Joint Committee was very willing to support this within any authority. It was reported that engagement with some authorities who wanted to hold face-to-face sessions locally had already started. It was reiterated that this was a decision for the authorities individually if they wanted to facilitate face-to-face sessions and that the CJC was well prepared, within reason, and within their capacity with the resources they had, to come and support those sessions.

Enquiries were made about parking for Dyffryn Ogwen and whether anything had been agreed at the Strategic Transportation Sub-committee, It was explained that everything before the Corporate Joint Committee today had already been approved by the Transport Sub-Committee in December but nothing specific on parking in Dyffryn Ogwenwas thought to have been included. It was noted that if there were specific local issues those could feed into the consultation and it was suggested to provide this as part of the feedback when taking part in the consultation.

It was explained that the consultation process was simple and clear with 5-6 questions, making it easy for anyone to be able to provide feedback which would then be analysed by the team at ARUP.