Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest received.

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

The Committee were provided with an update regarding the development of the Strategic Development Plan (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; in the letter, it was requested that funding be made available to enable Offices to make progress in terms of delivering the SDP.

Members were informed that the response from Welsh Government referred to the funding that they had provided to assist in delivering the Regional Transport Plan, and that there was opportunity to use any leftover resources from that piece of work, in order to progress the SDP; the Minister had confirmed, at that point in time, that no further funding was going to be forthcoming for the development of the SDP. Officers explained that the Regional Transport Plan had progressed significantly, and that there weren’t any resources available from that budget to assist in developing the SDP.

Officers explained their intention to send another letter to Welsh Government in order to reiterate their concerns and express the importance of funding in order to appropriately resource and deliver the SDP. It was noted that Officers from the South West Wales region had been in discussions with the other Corporate Joint Committees in Wales to establish whether to send the letter on behalf of all regions in Wales. It was stated that early indications showed that Mid Wales and North Wales were content and prepared to sign up to the letter; however, South East Wales had confirmed that they had prepared their delivery agreement and therefore would not be in a position to sign up to the letter. Further discussions had since taken place, and it was realised that North Wales had also made progress with their delivery agreement; it was therefore concluded that Mid Wales and South West Wales regions were in a different position to North Wales and South East Wales.

It was mentioned that Officers had calculated the estimated cost of preparing the SDP, which was in the region of between £3.5million and £4.5million; this would be developed over five to six years and would require around six dedicated Officers.

Officers had established that there weren’t any resources within existing structures to re-deploy to develop the SDP; staff in existing teams, within the four Local Authorities, were in the process of developing their Replacement Local Development Plans or undertaking monitoring and evaluation work. It was noted that the National Park Authorities were in a similar position in terms of their staff resource.

Since these discussions had taken place, Officers had identified money within the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee’s (SWWCJC) limited level of reserves; and had also received a letter from Welsh Government, indicating that they were providing funding of up to £200k this year, to contribute towards capacity and governance. It was explained that with the reserves and funding from Welsh Government, there was now opportunity to progress with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

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.