Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:

That Cllr Rob Stewart (Swansea County Council) be appointed Chair, and that Cllr Darren Price (Carmarthenshire County Council) be appointed Vice Chair of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee.

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were no declarations of interests received.

The minutes from the meeting held on 19 March 2025, were approved as a true and accurate record.

Members were provided with a report with the purpose of reconstituting the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC), which included setting out the administrative and governance arrangements for the forthcoming civic year.

The Monitoring Officer for the SWWCJC referred to the proposals within the circulated report, which formed part of the reconstitution.

One of the new proposals highlighted was the establishment of three themed Sub Committees, as opposed to the four Sub Committees which were in place last civic year. The three Sub Committees were noted to be Regional Transport, Strategic Planning and Economic Wellbeing; the Energy theme would be incorporated into the Economic Wellbeing Sub Committee, instead of it being a separate Sub Committee.

The Committee was informed of a change to the membership of the Overview and Scrutiny Sub Committee, which was that Councillor Tony Wilcox would be the representative for Pembrokeshire County Council, instead of Councillor Marc Tierney.

Another change highlighted was that Jan Williams will be the Co-Opted Member to represent Swansea Bay University Health Board, instead of Steven Spill.

A discussion took place in regard to the Public Sector Advisory Board (PSAB). The circulated report detailed the list of advisors who had been appointed to the PSAB, following approval at the meeting of the SWWCJC on 3 December 2024; it was proposed that these advisors be re-appointed. Officers explained that during the course of the next few weeks the PSAB will appoint its Chairperson, who will automatically be Co-Opted to the SWWCJC.

Following on from the above, the Monitoring Officer for the SWWCJC put forward the following amendment to recommendation (j), detailed in the circulated report, which was supported by Members:

That the Chief Executive of the SWWCJC be granted delegated authority, in consultation with the Chairperson of the SWWCJC, to appoint any replacement Members of the Private Sector Advisory Board.

RESOLVED:

·        That the appointment of the Members of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC), identified at paragraph 5 of the circulated report, be noted.

·        That the co-option of the Members of the National Park Authorities to the SWWCJC for all matters (save for strategic planning given their voting status) in a non-voting capacity for the civic year 2025/2026, be approved.

·        That the creation of the Sub-Committees (identified at paragraph 9 and in line with the terms of reference in Appendix A of the circulated report) and the proposed representatives appointed to the Sub-Committee, set out at paragraphs 9 and 10 of the circulated report, be approved.

·        That the co-option of the members of the National Park Authorities to the SWWCJC Sub-Committees for all matters (save for strategic planning given their voting status) in a non-voting capacity for the civic year 2025/2026, be approved.

·        That the establishment of Governance and Audit Sub-Committee for the SWWCJC, as set out in paragraphs 14-19 of the circulated report, be approved.

·        That the designation of the Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Standards Committee as the Standards Committee of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee were provided with a Comments, Compliments and Complaints Policy for the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC).

Officers acknowledged the need for a policy of this regard to be put in place in order to have a systematic approach to dealing with, and recording, any comments, compliments or complaints.

A discussion took place in regard to the involvement of the public in Corporate Joint Committee processes, and what work was being undertaken to encourage their contribution. The Chairperson noted the importance of using communication channels to promote the work being undertaken by the SWWCJC and emphasised the significance of the delivery aspect of the work, as this would be imperative to gaining public engagement.

Following on from the above, it was confirmed that Officers will also be developing a Public Participation Strategy for the SWWCJC; this will be on a similar footing to those that were in place for Local Authorities. It was explained that one of the requirements of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, was for Local Authorities to create a strategy pertaining to how local people can become involved in decision making processes. Officers stated that the Public Participation Strategy would set out how the SWWCJC will engage with the public in respect of the decision making processes and how they can make an impact to the work being undertaken.  

RESOLVED:

That the Comments, Compliments and Complaints Policy for the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee be approved.

Members of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC) were presented with an overview of the review that was currently ongoing pertaining to the Swansea Bay City Deal and the future of the Programme/Portfolio Management Office (POMO).

The Chief Executive of the SWWCJC provided the background in terms of the need for the review; referencing that there were links, and the potential for effective collaboration, between the Swansea Bay City Deal and the SWWCJC.

It was explained that the POMO provided support to the Swansea Bay City Deal and had been instrumental in many ways such as setting up the required governance structure and assisting to deliver the programme of work.

Officers highlighted that the funding for POMO had been provided from a top slice of the government grant available for the City Deal which was noted to be 1.5%; this will be exhausted in the 2025/26 financial year, if all posts in the structure were to be filled. Members were informed that the funding was also supplemented by contributions from all eight partners, which was noted to be £50k; this ended in March 2023, and there was no agreement to continue funding the Office beyond the 2025/26 financial year.

It was stated that given this information, it was necessary to undertake a review of the structures that were currently in place across the region; the information contained in the circulated report provided an update on the current position of the review.

Members were informed that the options and findings of the review will be reported to both the Swansea Bay City Region Joint Committee and the SWWCJC, for Members consideration.   

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Committee were updated on the development of the Strategic Development Plan (SDP).

Officers explained that Welsh Government have mandated the requirement to prepare and adopt an SDP within each of the four Corporate Joint Committee regions in Wales. It was added that within the South West Wales region there were six local planning authorities, including the four Local Authorities and two National Park Authorities, who were collectively responsibly for preparing the SDP.

Reference was made to the letter that was sent to Welsh Government, indicating Officers concerns regarding the requirements to deliver the SDP in the absence of appropriate financial resources. Members were informed that the response from Welsh Government at that time stated that there was no additional funding available; however, any spare funding left over from the development of the Regional Transport Plan (RTP) could be utilised for the Strategic Planning workstream. Officers explained that there weren’t any resources available from the RTP budget to assist in developing the SDP.

It was highlighted that Officers were in the process of collectively securing agreement in Wales to write to the new Minister responsible for Planning in Welsh Government, to reiterate the regions position and request for funding. However, it appeared that the position across Wales had changed; Cardiff Capital region had prepared their delivery agreement and submitted to Welsh Government for approval, and North Wales were in process of preparing their delivery agreement.

Following on from this realisation, it was determined that there was a need to provide options to the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC) in terms of moving forward with this workstream. The circulated report provided two options for consideration. It was noted that the first option was to make progress and prepare a delivery agreement for submission to Welsh Government; clearly indicating that the region would not be prepared to progress further until sufficient funding and resources had been made available. Officers highlighted that the second option was to hold the current position and confirm that the region wasn’t prepared to progress further until sufficient funding and resources had been made available.

Members were informed that the SDP Manual, which Welsh Government had been in the process of preparing for Corporate Joint Committees, had still not been made available to the local planning authorities.

Officers confirmed that the two options, detailed within the circulated report, were presented to the Strategic Planning Sub Committee on 19 May 2025; Members of the Sub Committee had endorsed Option One, which was to progress with the preparation of the delivery agreement.  

Members emphasised the importance of understanding Welsh Government’s plans in terms of future funding and the need for continuous lobbying. It was acknowledged that there was also a need to remind Welsh Government that Corporate Joint Committees should be fully funded and should not be an additional burden on Local Authorities. The Chairperson explained that there had been some recent success with the Ministers in terms of obtaining additional funding; and that the Welsh Local Government  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Members were informed that Forward Work Programme Workshops would be arranged for the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee and each of the Sub Committees, in order to inform the programme of work for the civic year.

The Forward Work Programme was noted.

Any urgent items at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100BA(6)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

There were no urgent items received.