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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
There were no declarations of interest received.
The minutes of the meetings held on 15 January 2025 and 11 March 2025 were approved as a true and accurate record.
Members considered the report as circulated within the agenda pack. Officers provided an overview in relation to the document. The public consultation received over 900 responses in addition to the more technical stakeholder engagement that was carried out. There has been ongoing engagement with Welsh Government, particularly around funding issues, the delivery plan and consideration of the regional approach moving forwards. Transport for Wales have been involved in the consultation, and the Trunk Road agency have been considered in relation to trunk roads in the region. The plan identified four major, large schemes across the region that are considered to the most regional significance. There is ongoing debate with Welsh Government with regards to how the funding and delivery is going to be supported. The target date for submission to Welsh Government is 24th July. Officer outlines that the RTP has retained the Welsh Transport Strategy, broad objectives and broad priorities. They have then been moved into six specific objectives for the region, and these are driven around reinvigorating the economy and the tourism and environmental issues in the region. There is also a strong link across the emerging strategic development plan. The RTP aims to promote the ability to travel sustainably. The critical element is ensuring that the plan is submitted to Welsh Government on time. Welsh Government have a process to go through to agree the RTP which releases the funding back to the region. In terms of the prioritisation of the work for the delivery plan, a huge amount of work has been undertaken. Ideas were put forward from the consultation process and also the authorities involved and these were all considered. The various ideas were screened against how they fitted with the original transport plan and the key priorities within, the key priorities and ambition of the individual authorities. Officers advised that whilst Welsh Government were unable to give them a firm target, they were able to indicate to work towards the region of 1.5 times the settlement figure. Working through the list, officers were able to bring the first year cost down to about £47m, which includes the four major schemes identified within the RTP. The overall programme is around circa £500m. Officers advised that there will need to be some further prioritisation work undertaken to decrease the costs. Whilst the plan recognises the ambitions of the region, it was recognised that there are funding constraints. Officers indicated that it will be easier to consider once the outcome of the grants modernisation work has been completed, in order to understand the exact levels of funding that are likely to come through to the region. There will be further detail around the mechanisms in place and how the funding allocations will work. There needs to be further discussion with Welsh Government with regards to how the major schemes are funded. Officers anticipate the four major scheme will be over £100m. The dialogue with Welsh Government will help to determine how there is an equitable approach to schemes across Wales. Members acknowledged the positive aims of the plan that was presented. Members queried how the four major projects were selected. It was confirmed that authorities were asked to put forward a list of projects for consideration. With specific reference to the Newgale Project, this was put forward by Pembrokeshire Council, and has been developed since 2018. It is supported by and has been requested by Welsh Government that it be included within the RTP. Members raised policy 6 which relates to rural areas and transport provision and the development of non-car options in rural areas. Members considered the need for this to be considered locally and the requirement to have alternative provisions in place to ensure this policy can be taken forward. Members raised their concern about the risk of non-delivery of the four major scheme, due to the uncertainties around funding. However it is understood by members that funding is being sought outside of the regional network to deal with particular schemes. Members queried if there was any update on the grant modernisation proposals. Members expressed a concern that the proposals within the RTP had not been sufficiently thinned out, and Welsh Government may not approve the RTP. Members were not surprised to see the high number of consultation responses which raised the current bus services within the region. Members considered that the current bus services was not a workable usable service to replace a car, and members understood why the current plan incorporates the current infrastructure of the bus service. It was noted that there were currently ongoing consultation on the bus services and queried if the CJC is going to involve itself in the network development processes, particularly in reference to the funding. Officers advised that they need to focus on working up the strength of the cases and the timing of when they are to be delivered so that developments are not significantly impacted and communities are not severed. The schemes are nationally significant, and it was put forward by officers that if communities are severed then this will become a nationally significant matter. Officers noted that a lot of the transport needs across the region are reflected in the policies of the RTP. However, the biggest challenge faced is that the level of ambition outstrips the potential funding available. It was noted that a key benefit of infrastructure investment in bus services is that it drives down the cost of running services. To have control of networks does not necessarily mean that there are going to be savings identified. Hopefully services can be times better to suit people’s needs and there can be better integration with rail services and making sure that an end to end transport solution can be provided. In terms of expanded services, this would require a greater level of investment and this will need to be considered from a local authority perspective, with consideration to how networks tie together and how franchise services link with other transport options. Officers and members are working within local authorities to provide information relating to the needs of the communities and to understand the pressures and demands on the transport links. In terms of franchising, officers are trying to relay as much information as possible about where opportunities are to improve the networks. However, it must also be recognised that there is no significant injection of funding to support this. Therefore, it is trying to ensure that the funding allocated is used to support the community needs. Members considered the importance of collaborating with the rail agencies and were pleased to see this outlined within the RTP. Members discussed the transformative effect that a metro could have within the region. It was recognised that it would require a significant amount of investment, however it is important that the region and local authorities keep lobbying for this. It was noted that impact that investment is having in Cardiff and connections with the valley communities. Following scrutiny, members: 1. Noted the verbal progress report from officers on the Regional Transport Plan development 2. Endorsed the Final Regional Transport Plan and supporting documents to the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee. 3. Noted the latest Welsh Government position on grant funding and the ongoing evolution of the Grants Modernisation process. 4. Noted the requirement for additional resources that the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee will be asked to endorse at their 10th July 2025 meeting.
Members considered the report as circulated within the agenda pack. Members were referred to Appendix A of the reports which set out the budget for 2024-2025. Appendix B shows the annual return which summarises the outturn into the required categories. There was an overall underspend in the year of £332,000. Officers went through the reasons for the underspend, which includes a vacant senior accountant post and no spend by any of the sub-committees. Members reiterated the importance of budgets being accurate, and only budgeting for items which are required. Members were also concerned about the level of reserves that are being held by the CJC, which equites to more than twice the income from the local authorities. Members agreed to write to the Chair of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee to express their concern at the level of reserves that are currently being held and overall funding position of the CJC. Officers went through the Annual Return item. There were no questions raised with regards to the specifics on the Annual Return. Following scrutiny, members noted the report.
Members noted the Forward Work Programme and agreed to hold a workshop to consider populating the Forward Work Programme for 2025-2026.
There were no urgent items.
It was noted that Appendices 10 and 11, detailed within the circulated report, were exempt under Paragraph 14. There were no comments or questions received in relation to these appendices, therefore the meeting did not move into private session.
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