Agenda item

The Committee was informed that the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee had a duty to prepare a Regional Transport Plan (RTP); the first stage of this work was to produce an Implementation Plan, for submission to Welsh Government by the end of October 2023.

The draft Implementation Plan was attached as Appendix 1 of the circulated report, and Officers were seeking Members approval to submit this Implementation Plan to Welsh Government.

Officers presented the draft Implementation Plan to the Committee, and highlighted key points in regards to the project goal, the work packages required to completing the development of the RTP, the identified risks and the timeline for delivery.

Members were sighted on the policy context of the RTP, and were informed of the importance to ensure that the RTP was reflective of the Wales Transport Strategy (Llwybr Newydd); and aligned to other National, Regional, Local strategies and priorities.

It was explained that there were two main elements to the preparation of the RTP; Developing the Case for Change, and Developing the Regional Transport Plan. Officers provided the Committee with an overview of some of the work required to be undertaken, in order to progress with these work streams.

The high level risks associated with delivering a Regional Transport Plan for South West Wales were presented to the Committee:

·        Political agreement on polices and high level outcomes – although the RTP was a Regional Plan, it also needed to suit the individual Local Authorities (not just the agreement of the plan, but the timescales for the approvals through the individual Local Authorities);

·        Regional agreement on prioritised Regional Transport Delivery Plan (RTDP) schemes list – producing this list would require Officers to have an indication of the level of funding that will be made avaliable to deliver the schemes, however this was still unknown;

·        Challenging timescales for submission and adoption of the RTP – the fixed deadline for final RTP submission (29 March 2025) was first set some time ago, and since then there had been delays associated with this work stream, such as the delay in Welsh Government providing their guidance. However, the fixed deadline had not been amended and was noted to be very ambitious in terms of delivering a meaningful piece of work;

·        Available resource within Local Authorities to deliver the RTP, and the number of specialist studies to be untaken in the development of the RTP and lack of funding to deliver – there were limited resources in each of the Local Authorities, and therefore certain pieces of work will need to be commissioned. However, currently there were no clear streams of funding to be able to do this.

Reference was made to the draft letter for the Minister, attached at appendix two of the circulated report, which addressed the risks highlighted in the plan; it was proposed that this letter be submitted, along with the Implementation Plan, to Welsh Government. The Chair of the Regional Transport Sub Committee provided an overview of the concerns raised in the Sub Committee meeting, and the importance of submitting the letter to the Minister to raise these concerns formally.

A discussion took place in regards to how the RTP would align with the needs of the communities and aspirations across the region; with particular concerns raised in regards to the bus industry. Officers provided assurances that all modes of public transport, that were integral to the region, would be incorporated into the plans; the RTP will help establish the policy context, to bring the various different strands, and programmes of work, together.

RESOLVED: That the Implementation Plan, contained within the circulated report, be approved to allow for submission to Welsh Government to meet the requirements of the Regional Transport Plan mandate.