Agenda item

To report on work to-date in developing a new Economy Plan for Gwynedd, inviting the input of Members on the content of this report and on any additional issues they believe are important in shaping the Plan.

DECISION

1.     To accept the report and note the observations.

2.     That the Committee scrutinises the Draft Gwynedd Economy Plan when timely during 2025/26.

 

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Community was welcomed to his first meeting of the scrutiny committee and was congratulated on his appointment. ⁠ The Head of the Economy and Community Department and the officers were also welcomed to the meeting.

 

Submitted – a report by the Cabinet Member inviting input from the members on the contents and on further issues they believed should be considered in compiling the Gwynedd Economy Plan.

 

The Cabinet Member noted at the outset that this item followed on from the discussion at the scrutiny committee meeting on 25 January 2024 regarding the implementation of the Gwynedd Economy Development Project.

 

In response to the Chair's comments at the start of the meeting, the Head of Economy and Community Department explained:-

That it was fair to say, when the report was presented last year, that they had expected to be in a considerably different position by now.

The hope last autumn, when there had been a discussion in the Leadership Team, was that there would now be a completed document ready to be printed. This had not happened, although much work had taken place.

They needed to go back to the Leadership Team, and she believed that it was beneficial to have this committee's input today to the principles and direction so that the document that would be submitted to the Leadership Team incorporated the scrutineers' observations.

A draft of the finished document was not ready today since the Department had re-scheduled the work since the autumn. That had happened for several reasons, which included starting again on setting a new direction in the wake of appointing a new Cabinet Member, and re-planning work priorities to take account of an additional year's worth of work in light of the UK Government's decision to extend the Levelling Up Fund for an extra year.

 

The Cabinet Member set out the context for the report, noting the following:-

The UK Government's confirmation that the Levelling Up Fund would continue for a further year to 2025/26 was to be welcomed, but we could be certain that the financial landscape would change once again after April 2026. Consequently, the requirement for this Council to consider its economic priorities remained.

Securing a document that clearly stated our aspirations would also be an important tool in influencing discussions by the two governments within the North Wales region.

The purpose of the report to hand was to summarise the messages received and to obtain comments and feedback from the scrutineers before proceeding to finish compiling the Economic Development Strategic Plan and adopting it in the new financial year.

 

The members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. ⁠ 

 

A member expressed their opinion that it was difficult to scrutinise a progress report – the members had hoped to scrutinise a draft version of the Gwynedd Economy Plan at this meeting. They noted that there could be no certainty whether there would be another opportunity for this committee to scrutinise the plan before it went to the Cabinet in April. It was emphasised that it was incredibly important that Gwynedd had a high-level strategy given the likely changes in the funding programmes.  Nevertheless, it was acknowledged that some very good work had been done in some areas.  In response, it was noted:-

That they agreed it was important to have a document that clearly identified Gwynedd's priorities as a county, so that it could be used to influence and target funding in the future.

Everyone had expected the funding to end completely on 1 April, and that the document was needed this year. However, the extension of the funding for an additional year meant that staff had to cope with planning the preparation of the document alongside running a new funding programme for 2025/26.

They hoped to be able to bring a draft document to the committee to be scrutinised in the coming months.  They were aiming to have a document agreed during 2025/26 so that it was in place to influence the 2026/27 programmes.

 

A member enquired whether there would be an opportunity for this committee to scrutinise the draft Economy Plan before it was submitted to the Cabinet. In response, it was noted that this was considered essential. However, as it was intended to submit the draft document to the Cabinet on 8 April, and that this committee did not meet again until 10 April, it was suggested that the Cabinet item might have to be re-scheduled. 

 

It was noted that the Plan would consider the implications of all the changes that were happening in agriculture at the moment and the importance of agriculture to Gwynedd.  The need for the Department to be in contact with the farming unions in Wales was expressed. It was emphasised that the implications of the changes were enormous for the Gwynedd countryside and were also far-reaching for rural businesses that relied on agriculture.  In response, it was noted:-

That the analysis of the economy showed the value and importance of agriculture and that the Economy Plan would need to address the changes and threats the sector were facing.

There had been no discussions with the farming unions to date, but with regard to the wider agri-food sector, the Economy Plan would address priority projects that were being planned, such as the Glynllifon Rural Economy Hub.

⁠The initial document examined the economic profile and which parts of the economy were important, to be able to identify where were the risks in the economy and where economic growth was needed.

In terms of wider engagement, discussions had been held with the Council's strategic partners, such as Bangor University and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, and bodies representing businesses such as the Federation of Small Businesses, with regard to providing support to businesses in the county.

The Business Survey referenced in part 5.1 of the report was an exercise that had been conducted last year to engage with businesses in the county, and 130 responses had been received to the survey.

The purpose of the exercise had been to identify what were the businesses' aims and objectives over the period ahead, the challenges they faced and the opportunities they wished to take advantage of, in order to find whether they intended to grow, or whether they anticipated that the business would shrink.

Recruitment challenges were one of the main challenges facing the businesses. This reflected wider trends in terms of the county's demography, and the Department was very alert to those in the report.

Messages were also being conveyed not only about the businesses' viability and how we would be able to respond to that, but also about how we can support those businesses to increase the use of the Welsh language and its visibility.

Officers intended to respond to the messages from the businesses in the Economy Plan in order to have a plan that suited the conditions that businesses faced in the county.

 

Concern was expressed regarding the timetable. In response, it was noted:-

That it was not intended to take the final Plan to the Cabinet to be adopted at the beginning of April, and that the members would have an opportunity to scrutinise the draft document during the coming year. 

They wished to have the scrutineers' input to the discussions that would be happening during the year between the two Governments, and that the Department was also working closely with the Welsh Local Government Association to ensure that local authorities' voice formed part of that discussion.

 

A member emphasised the need to place particular focus in the Economy Plan on the construction industry, specifically in Dwyfor a Meirionnydd, given the effect of other Council policies, such as the Council Tax Premium, on the industry.  It was also noted that it would be useful to know to what degree businesses in the different parts of Gwynedd relied on child labour (i.e. younger than 16), post-16 students and students aged 18-21, especially so in the hospitality and retail sectors, compared with other authorities - both nationally and at a state level.  It was explained that this was part of a wider question, namely the shortage of workers in particular industries, as the situation would worsen over the next decades as birth rates reduced. The member questioned how viable some of these businesses were, and questioned how many more such businesses did we wish to have, given that the aim was to ensure fit-for-purpose growth, and not growth for the sake of growth.  In response, the following was noted:-

It was not believed that the data available distinguished between the ages of the workers.

The situation reflected how tight the labour market was in Gwynedd, and that considerable effort was being made through the Gwaith Gwynedd scheme to ensure that everyone who was able to work did work, and also to encourage people to remain productive.

 

It was enquired whether the Department would listen to the scrutineers' wishes, and noted that the Economy Plan should address the following:-

The over-reliance on tourism which could be very volatile.

The need to encourage more people to take the leap to become self-employed.

Plans to develop renewable energy.

Promotion of high value industries.  It was enquired, should the report to the committee not have referred to a report on this topic that was prepared around five years ago?

The entire digital field, a field where people could be attracted to work from home self-employed.

 

It was further noted:- 

That it was felt we were losing opportunities and that we need an all-encompassing strategy, rather than a fragmented one.

The attention given to the language in the report was welcomed, but members wished to know where tourism stood in terms of the effect on the Welsh language as it was not believed that the very low-value jobs in the tourism industry added to preserving our language and culture, and instead contributed to poverty and more Anglicisation.

 

In response to some of the observations, the following was noted:-

Regarding the point about Welsh speakers within the industries, the findings of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities identified the three industries in Gwynedd that had the highest percentage of Welsh speakers where the percentage of speakers was higher than the overall Welsh-speaking percentage for Gwynedd.  As such, it was suggested that there was still scope to increase the use and visibility of the Welsh language in the other industries, such as tourism.

In terms of the observation regarding the range of different industries and which industries had a growth potential in Gwynedd, the report described the economy's situation as it was today.  That included tourism and agriculture, and there was certainly scope to add further value from those.

The report also recognised that there was still room for growth in new industries, such as the creative and digital industries, and to bring some diversity to the economy and create more opportunities for people to work and discover new jobs if they wished etc.

 

It was suggested that planning barriers may be a problem in trying to establish new businesses, and a member asked that consideration be given to this in the Economy Plan. It was also noted that we should look again at bringing high-value jobs to Llanbedr, together with Trawsfynydd, in light of the policy change by the UK Government.  In response, the following was noted:-

The aim was to secure prosperity and jobs in the county that would create opportunities for the next generation to be able to stay in their communities, and that it was essential to have a variety of jobs in the county that required a variety of different skills, so that we did not depend on any one sector.

The planning issue was the subject of a discussion going back a while, and the Department would certainly work with officers in the Environment Department to discuss the details before returning.

 

It was noted that most young farmers in the rural parts of the county were involved with tourism, and without tourism, there would be no control of agriculture either. It was further noted that the Planning and Economy departments should work together more closely, and the member referred to the situation of a company that had decided to set up in Powys rather than South Meirionnydd because they received more support there.  In response, it was noted:-

That the company in question's decision to establish in Powys had been due to a shortage of suitable sites on the Gwynedd side of the boundary.

The officers acknowledged that there were barriers, but the Plan would look at the spatial distribution across the county in order to ensure there were fair opportunities across Gwynedd, rather than the opportunities being concentrated in some areas only.

 

The member further noted that, although acknowledging that a shortage of land had been a factor in the case in question, the Planning Service needed to be more flexible, or otherwise more jobs would be lost to Powys.

 

It was noted that it would be useful if the Economy Plan provided some illustration of the more hidden contributions that people made in their communities who contribute to the economy in alternative ways to be productive in the labour market.  In response, it was noted:-

That this Plan had not addressed people's wider contribution to society, but we could look at how to incorporate this in terms of the bigger picture.

This also raised the question of whether this was a plan for developing the economy, or a prosperous communities plan, and that we possibly needed to reconsider the purpose of the Plan.

 

It was noted that the economy field was crucial to the communities of Gwynedd, but as a non-statutory field, the Cabinet Member would have to fight hard for it in the Cabinet against other important areas of Council work.  

 

Members welcomed the aim to place a focus on retaining the good jobs we already have in the county in making recruitment efforts because those jobs were often seen as more of a footnote in a report or economic strategy, rather than the main strategy of the economic plan.

 

RESOLVED

To accept the report and note the observations.

That the Committee scrutinises the Draft Gwynedd Economy Plan when timely during 2025/26.