Agenda item

(a)       That the Committee formally endorses and recommends that 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 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 Cabinet formally endorse and recommend that the Council authorise the accountable body, Gwynedd Council, to sign the Grant Funding Offer letter on behalf of the Partners;

(d)       That the Cabinet formally endorses and recommends 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; 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 to present the key documents required  for approval to reach Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal with the UK Government and Welsh Government.  He provided background information and explained that a report and the relevant documents had been circulated to all partner organisations with the aim that by mid-December all ten partners had adopted the report in readiness to sign the final Growth Deal with both the UK Government and Welsh government before end of December 2020.  The covering report would be presented to all six local authority Scrutiny, Cabinet and Council meetings.

The Chief Executive advised that the Growth Deal was the largest single collaborative project that North Wales had undertaken and commented on the   political, economic, and financial significance.  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

Councillor Ian Roberts spoke of the successful regional work being undertaken by the NWEAB which was acknowledged by the Welsh Government.  He urged  Members to support the recommendations in the report and reiterated the need to progress towards signing  the final Growth Deal with both the UK Government and Welsh government before end of December 2020 for the reasons already explained. Councillor Roberts paid tribute to the Chief Executive for his hard work and influence on the NWEAB and also paid tribute to Councillor Aaron Shotton for his work as former Leader of the Council.

Councillor Paul Shotton raised a question on overspend.  In response the Chief Executive explained that there was tight governance arrangements on programmes which devolved to project level and gave assurance that there were no concerns relating to overspend. The Chief Executive also responded to the comments raised around BREXIT and said that there would be local benefit for Flintshire arising through the Growth Deal in the dispersal of European funding.  He also spoke of the significance of Holyhead in terms of trade, investment and tourism.

In response to the concerns raised by Councillor Owen Thomas relating to local employment and investment in local industry, the Chief Executive explained that jobs and benefits from the Growth Deal would be dispersed across the region and that funding for investment in local industry had also been obtained ahead of and separate to the Growth Deal.  In response to the further concerns expressed by Councillor Thomas the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) commented on the Regional Skills Partnership and the work between colleges and the Ambition Board to ensure schools, colleges, and universities provided the relevant skills required for the jobs created by new capital projects.

The recommendations in the report were moved by Councillor Kevin Hughes  and seconded by Councillor Paul Shotton.

Councillor Patrick Heesom abstained from the vote on the recommendations

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Committee formally endorses and recommends that 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 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 Cabinet formally endorse and recommend that the Council authorise the accountable body, Gwynedd Council, to sign the Grant Funding Offer letter on behalf of the Partners;

(d)       That the Cabinet formally endorses and recommends 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; 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.