Venue: Via Microsoft Teams
No. | Item |
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Declarations of Interests Minutes: The
following members made a declaration of interest at the commencement of the
meeting: Councillor M.Harvey Re
the Swansea Bay City Deal Infrastructure Project as he is a member of the Swansea
Bay City Region Joint Scrutiny Committee. Councillor S.Freeguard Re
the Swansea Bay City Deal Infrastructure Project as she is a member of the
Swansea Bay City Region Joint Scrutiny Committee Councillor A.Llewelyn Re the Swansea Bay City Deal
Infrastructure Project as he is a member of the Swansea Bay City Region Joint
Scrutiny Committee |
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting PDF 72 KB ·
2 September 2020 ·
17 September 2020 Additional documents: Minutes: That
the minutes of the following meetings be approved: ·
2 September 2020 ·
17 September 2020 |
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Pre-decision Scrutiny ·
To select appropriate items from the Cabinet agenda for pre-decision
scrutiny (cabinet reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members) Minutes: The Committee was
provided with a short presentation which gave a strategic overview of the
digital infrastructure project of the Swansea Bay City Deal; this particular
programme of work and proposed investment was in relation to the connectivity
of the region, including Neath Port Talbot. It was clarified that the
investment would include full fibre fixed connectivity, the associated
infrastructure to support it and mobile connectivity, primarily 4G, 5G and
Internet of Things advanced wireless networks. Officers explained that
it was a £55 million programme spread over 5 years; £25 million of the total
was City Deal funding and the other £30 million was to be brought in from the
private and public sectors. It was highlighted that the public sector
contributions were not local contributions, instead they were estimated to come
from national competitions and funding streams. In relation to the private
sector contributions, it was noted that it would be leveraged in as part of the
various procurement exercises conducted; the private sector were conservative
in terms of the financial targets and Officers stated that they did not foresee
any issues in meeting those targets. The presentation
detailed the delivery of the proposed project across three work streams which
included rural, next generation wireless and connected places; the project
would deliver connectivity in various forms and locations across those three
work streams: ·
Rural – investment in rural connectivity, ultimately a number of
interventions to support the most rural communities and badly served
communities e.g. demand stimulation, promotion of existing funding streams for
people to exploit and supporting residents, communities and businesses ·
Next generation wireless – seed funding to attract future 5G and 4G+
coverage for certain areas where prudent and some advanced wireless networks to
facilitate all sorts of used cases the region would seek to fund e.g.
driverless cars and SMART manufacturing. The diversity of the region offers
numerous opportunities to prove and deliver the use of 5G for the future ·
Connected places – investment in full fibre broadband and full fibre
networks across the urban parts of the region particularly Port Talbot, Neath,
Swansea and Llanelli Members noted the main
reasons as to why the project was taking place which was split into problems to
solve and opportunities to exploit, and how working together with Welsh and UK
Governments, telecoms industries and regional partners and stakeholders would
help to make a difference. Some of the problems to
solve included: ·
Extremely limited full fibre coverage (only 2.6% of Neath Port Talbots
premises, business and homes had full fibre broadband); intend to use the
projects finances to leverage as much connectivity as possible ·
22,000 homes across the region who struggled to access even a 30MB per
second quality of internet provision; intend to reduce this number
significantly · Distinct lack of supplier competition, which is one of the reasons why the region wasn’t well served in terms of connectivity; intend to change this by working with industry and utilise the finances to attract competition to make sure reliable, sustainable ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |