7 Economic Wellbeing and Regional Economic Development - Sub Committee Programme Update PDF 511 KB
Minutes:
Officers delivered an
update on the delivery of the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) which formed part of
the work of the Economic Well Being and Regional Economic Development
Sub-Committee.
The circulated report
outlined the responsibilities of Local Governments in developing regional
investment plans for SPF and sets out the basis of the programme being anchor
projects, grant schemes and standalone projects.
Reference was made to
the fact that a ‘transitional year’ had been agreed for 2025/26, whilst
discussions on post March 2026 funding were taking place between UK and Welsh
Governments; work will need to be completed by December 2025 for the
transitional year.
It was highlighted that
significant progress had been made in terms of regional performance outputs
including job creation, safeguarding jobs and grants awarded to organisations
and enterprises.
In terms of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC)
priorities for 2025/26, the Economic Well-being and Development workstream had
been allocated circa 50k in order to assist in achieving the Wellbeing
Objective.
A discussion took place
in regard to the importance of SPF and the need to be clear in terms of what
the SWWCJC expect in terms of funding; it will be fundamental in order to
determine what the region would be able to achieve over the next few years. Members
expressed the need to engage with UK and Welsh Government and discuss the
impacts on the various organisations involved in this work.
It was agreed that a
letter would be produced, on behalf of the South West
Wales region, incorporating all points made during the discissions at this
meeting; this would need to be carried out ahead of the comprehensive spending
review in order to capture the need to support this work and for equal
representation at all tiers of government on the decisions made around SPF.
RESOLVED:
That
the report be noted.