Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

None.

None.

That Council receives and adopts the recommendations of Cabinet as follows:

(a)       That the Overarching Business Plan be approved  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 Council notes  the Cabinet approval of  the provisions in Governance Agreement 2 relating to executive functions, and l 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  Council authorises the accountable body, Gwynedd Council, to sign the Grant Funding Offer letter on behalf of the Partners;

(d)       That Council accepts  the Cabinet’s  formal endorsements and d recommendations, and  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  budget to pay this contribution and the established core and supplementary contributions as set out in GA2 ; and

(e)       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 introduced a report on the key documents required for approval to reach the Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal with the UK Government and Welsh Government.  He advised that the report presented the recommendations of Cabinet for the Council to support the region entering into a Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal.   The Council would be a partner in and a co-signatory to the Agreement.   The Chief Executive reported that Cabinet, at a meeting held prior to County Council today and following the advice of both the Environment & Economy and Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committees, had fully approved the report and recommendations. 

The Chief Executive stated that entering into a Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal was a significant point in history for the region.  The Agreement was a partnership between six Local Authorities, Bangor  and Glyndwr Universities, and Llandrillo and Coleg Cambria.  He explained that all 10 partners had received and agreed the relevant documentation within a short period with the aim that by mid-December the Secretary of State for Wales and the Minister for Economy for Wales would  formally sign the  Growth Deal which sealed commitment and funding for the region for the next 15 years.  He said that the Growth Deal would mean that the region would be recognised as a coherent competitive region for future UK and Welsh Government funding for economic growth, particularly post BREXIT.  The Growth Deal was worth £1.1 billion to the North Wales economy and was expected to create up to 4,200 new jobs in North Wales by 2036.  Once  signed by the UK and Welsh Governments the decisions on when individual programmes/projects could be started would be made on a regional basis.  The Chief Executive  advised that there would  be ample opportunity for the detail of all the projects to be scrutinised in prior to their  launch. 

The Chief Executive and Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) gave a joint presentation on the North Wales Growth Deal which covered the following key points:

• partnership – North Wales Economic Ambition Board
• North Wales Growth Vision
• governance structure
• timeline
• Final Deal Agreement
• Final Deal Requirements – Business Cases
• overarching business plan
• the growth deal portfolio
• programmes
• income and expenditure
• financial implications
• Governance Agreement 2
• draft Final Deal Agreement
• key dates 

The Corporate Finance Manager reported on the financial implications.  He referred to the data  in the report which showed the total (15 years) partner contributions to cover the cost of ‘borrowing’ notionally required to facilitate the negative cash flow.    He advised that the level of borrowing required to meet the negative cash flow was prudent and provided good value for money in the context of the timely delivery of such a major project.  The Council’s additional annual partner contribution would be built into the budget for 2021/22 as part of the current ongoing work on the budget process and was deemed affordable.

The Chief Officer (Governance) reported on the governance arrangements for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

There was one member of the press in attendance.