Issue - meetings

(a)       That the Committee formally endorses and recommends that the Cabinet and Council approve the Overarching Business Plan as the document that sets out the arrangements to deliver the North Wales Growth Deal as the basis for entering into the Final Deal Agreement and acceptance of the Grant Funding Letter with the UK and Welsh Governments;

(b)       That the Committee formally endorses and recommends that the Cabinet approves the provisions in Governance Agreement 2 relating to executive functions, recommends that Council approves the provisions relating to non-executive functions, and that Cabinet specifically adopts the delegations and Terms of Reference in ‘Governance Agreement 2: Appendix 1’ thereof as the basis for completing the Final Deal Agreement and acceptance of the Grant Funding Letter with the UK and Welsh Governments;

(c)       That the Committee supports the recommendation that the Cabinet formally endorses and recommends that the Council authorises the accountable body, Gwynedd Council, to sign the Grant Funding Offer letter on behalf of the Partners;

(d)       That the Committee supports the Cabinet formally endorsing and recommending that Council approves the method used to calculate the cost of borrowing notionally required to facilitate the negative cash flow for the Growth Deal, and to include a provision within the Council’s budget to pay this contribution and the established core and supplementary contributions as set out in GA2 (and in paragraphs 2.5 - 2.7); and

(e)       That the Committee supports that the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader, Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer, be granted delegated authority to agree minor changes to the documents with the Partners as necessary to complete the agreement.

The Chief Executive presented a report to consider the key documents required to reach Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal with the UK Government and Welsh Government (WG), prior to approval by Cabinet.  The documents were being presented to all partners for approval to formalise their legally binding commitment to the Final Deal Agreement.

Since Governance Agreement 1 had been adopted, Governance Agreement 2 had been developed to include shared benefits and risks along with co-financing arrangements.  In Flintshire, the report had been supported by the Environment and Economy Overview & Scrutiny Committee earlier in the week following all-Member workshops held previously.  The Agreement included provisions for executive and non-executive functions which required separate decisions to be taken by Cabinet and County Council on 17 November 2020.  Feedback from both Overview & Scrutiny Committees would be reported to those meetings.

The Chief Executive provided clarification on the two forms of financial commitment for the Council which involved revenue contributions already built into the base budget and revenue consequences of borrowing capital to facilitate the negative cash flow for the Growth Deal.  The latter would require annual contributions of between £100k-140k from Flintshire to access £240m of capital from both Governments to fund the Growth Deal over 15 years.  This was regarded this as an affordable approach for the Council in the context of the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  The Agreement had the commitment of the leadership of all partners and if signed off by 17 December, would enable capital to be accessed in the current year.

The Chief Officer (Governance) drew comparison between the provisions of the Agreement with those of other existing regional partnerships.  He gave an overview of the governance model including provision for each partner to retain control over the level of resources that it contributed.

The Corporate Finance Manager said that he was satisfied with the financial considerations which he considered to be prudent on a project of this scale to deliver programmes in the early years.  In echoing the Chief Executive’s comments on the financial commitments, he said that the additional annual contributions would need to be built into the 2021/22 budget.

Councillor Dunbobbin paid tribute to Councillor Ian Roberts, the Leader of the Council and his predecessor Councillor Aaron Shotton for all their work on the North Wales Economic Ambition Board (EAB).  In praising the report, he said that more clarity in the wording would help to raise awareness of the benefits.  In speaking about the complexity of the Agreement, the Chief Executive said that a range of information was available on the EAB website and that the presentation given to the Environment and Economy Overview & Scrutiny Committee would be circulated.  He responded to other questions highlighting the commitment of all partners and creation of new projects within the Growth Deal.  On digital connectivity, the Chief Officer (Governance) agreed to circulate information on that area of work by the EAB.

On behalf of Councillor Richard Jones, Councillor Peers sought clarification on the recommendations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27