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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED: · That the Quarter 2 Financial Monitoring for year ended 2025/26, be received. · That the request to sponsor The Green Conference scheduled for 13th November 2025, as outlined within section 3 of the circulated report, be approved.
RESOLVED: · That the use of substitute members for the Governance and Audit Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, be approved. · That it be noted that substitute members will be appointed for individual meetings only, following consultation between the Monitoring Officer and the respective local authority and national park authorities.
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting.
There were no declarations of interests received.
The minutes of the meeting, held on 28 August 2025, were approved as a true and accurate record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: · That the Quarter 2 Financial Monitoring for year ended 2025/26, be received. · That the request to sponsor The Green Conference scheduled for 13th November 2025, as outlined within section 3 of the circulated report, be approved.
Officers presented the Quarter 2 Financial Monitoring for 2025/26. The Committee were reminded of the details of the budget that was set for the current financial year, which included the commitment of utilising £153k from reserves over a three-year phased approach, to reduce the Local Authority levy; the total Local Authority levy charge for the 2025/26 financial year was set at £556k. It was noted that the monitoring up to the end of Quarter 2 indicated a positive variance. Members were informed that Officers continued to lobby Welsh Government regarding additional money to fund the areas that Welsh Government want the regions to progress; Officers were expecting to receive £200k in respect of the development of the Corporate Joint Committee Prospectus, and £200k in respect of the Regional Transport Plan (RTP). It was added that Officers were yet to receive the funds for the Prospectus; however, it was confirmed that Welsh Government now had the legislation in place to release that funding. Officers provided narrative of the Sub Committee expenditure, and highlighted that activity was significantly increasing across the four workstreams. Members were informed that currently, the forecast outturn for 2025/26 was showing a surplus of £323k. Reference was made to the Green Economy Conference, and the recommendation to sponsor the conference; the sponsorship value of £20k was already committed into the budget. The Committee referred to the meeting that Welsh Government held recently to discuss future funding for Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs). It was noted that Welsh Government confirmed that they were aware of the concerns, raised by CJCs across Wales, around the disproportionate burden of governance that was applied to CJCs; Welsh Government were committing to do a review of the governance arrangements, with the aim of trying to resolve this issue. RESOLVED: · That the Quarter 2 Financial Monitoring for year ended 2025/26, be received. · That the request to sponsor The Green Conference scheduled for 13th November 2025, as outlined within section 3 of the circulated report, be approved.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: · That the use of substitute members for the Governance and Audit Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, be approved. · That it be noted that substitute members will be appointed for individual meetings only, following consultation between the Monitoring Officer and the respective local authority and national park authorities.
The Committee received a report seeking approval to authorise the use of substitute members in response to recent challenges in maintaining quorum. It was noted that this change to the constitution would enable Local Authorities and National Park Authorities to nominate substitute Members to attend meetings of the Governance and Audit Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Reference was made to the occasions in which meetings had to be stood down as a result of not being quorate; this change will help to ensure that this doesn’t occur again. RESOLVED: · That the use of substitute members for the Governance and Audit Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, be approved. · That it be noted that substitute members will be appointed for individual meetings only, following consultation between the Monitoring Officer and the respective local authority and national park authorities.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
Members were presented with an update on the recruitment process enabling progress to be made on the Strategic Development Plan (SDP) Delivery Agreement. Officers highlighted that on 19 May 2025, a decision was made by the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC) to allocate funding from reserves to appoint an experienced Planning Policy Officer to lead on the preparation of the Delivery Agreement for the SDP. It was noted that the Delivery Agreement was a crucial document; setting out the timeline for the preparation of the SDP, the community involvement scheme and the resources required to prepare the SDP. Members were reminded that the cost of delivering the SDP was estimated to be between £3.5-4.5million; at this current time, Members had only agreed to preparing the Delivery Agreement and had not committed to submit any documentation beyond that point. Following expressions of interest to the recruitment process, it was confirmed that an appointment had been made, and the Planning Policy Officer had been in post since 1 September 2025. It was stated that Officers were aiming to complete the Delivery Agreement by the end of March 2026, ready for submission to Welsh Government; however, a decision will need to be made before then as to whether the Delivery Agreement should be submitted or not. Officers explained that if the Delivery Agreement was to be submitted to Welsh Government, the region must demonstrate that there were financial resources in place to continue to deliver the SDP; currently, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding this. Officers confirmed that they will continue to lobby Welsh Government to ensure that appropriate funding was set aside for delivery. Concerns were raised in regard to the restrictions and challenges standing in the way of delivering this work; Members queried what could be done to further drive delivery forward. It was noted that there was a need to ensure that the region was equipped with the necessary technical resources and funding to complete the work; it would be important to continue expressing these concerns to Welsh Government, and lobby for the necessary resources and finances. A discussion took place in regard to human resource across each of the Local Authorities. Members were conscious of the workload pressures on the individual Planning Teams, and stated the importance of being mindful of this; especially when the time comes to progress with the SDP further. Reference was made to the estimated costs of delivering the SDP, which was previously noted to be approximately £3.5-4.5million; Members asked if Welsh Government had provided an update on these costs during the recent meeting. It was highlighted that one of the key takeaways from the meeting was that Welsh Government were acknowledging that the proportionality of the governance around Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs) needed to be addressed; and discussions had taken place in relation to the commitments required to ensure that CJCs would be properly funded for the functions they're asked to undertake. It was concluded that there wasn’t specific reference made to the funding for developing the SDP, however there were wider discussions regarding the appropriateness and level of funding for CJCs; Members and Officers will also need to continue seeking confirmation on how costs would be apportioned fairly. RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
The circulated report provided detail on how each of the three functions of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (SWWCJC) were progressing; the functions were aligned with the Wellbeing Objectives. Reference was made to section four of the circulated report, which highlighted the risk and issues assessment for each of the work streams; and section eight which captured the outcomes and performance. The following points were raised in terms of risks and outcomes: Economic Wellbeing, Development and Energy With regard to the Investment Strategy, it was noted that there would be a number of risks if the region was unable to commission the work; there were also risks to reputation, and a delay in terms of reaching the current ideal position when looking at the regional offer. However, Officers confirmed that a consultant had been appointed to undertake work on the Investment Strategy, and there were no longer risks in terms of the work being actioned. It was added that Officers had undertaken a mid-term review of the Regional Economic Delivery Plan (REDP), which the SWWCJC had sight of in a previous meeting and had approved the outcomes of the review; Officers appreciated that the Private Sector Advisory Board (PSAB) members had provided their input into that process. Members were informed that the region’s investment webpage was now up and running; the development was ongoing, with Officers building on the interface to improve the webpage further. Regional Transport It was stated that Welsh Government approved the Regional Transport Plan (RTP), which was effective as of 25 September 2025; partners and regional teams had been notified of this and informed that this strategic document would now supersede any previous plans. Officers mentioned that the next steps would be to review the Regional Transport Delivery Plan and discuss the first-year priority; colleagues were currently working with Welsh Government on this and were aiming to bring a draft document to the SWWCJC on 18 November 2025, before submitting to Welsh Government on 21 November 2025. Strategic Planning Officers explained that agenda item six of the circulated agenda pack, covered a lot of the progress thus far in terms of strategic planning. It was mentioned that Welsh Government has indicated, through correspondence on 5 June 2025, that the region would receive three layers of funding; subsequent meetings had taken place through the All Wales Corporate Joint Committee (CJC) Group, facilitated by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), in which Welsh Government provided an update on funding. Members were informed that Officers were working closely with Welsh Government to progress the Delivery Agreement for the Strategic Development Plan (SDP); and to date, the SWWCJC had not received further guidance on the grant offer. Following the overview from the Head of Policy and Business Administration of the SWWCJC, a further update was provided in terms of the Regional Investment Strategy. It was noted that the procurement process had been completed, and following an evaluation panel that had representation from the four Local Authorities, Amion Consulting was appointed as the successful tenderer; the four Local Authorities had their inception meeting with Amion on 13 October 2025. Officers stated that Amion had already started stakeholder engagement and planned to start engagement with the PSAB in due course. Reference was made to the challenging timeframe associated with this piece of work; Amion were currently in week two of a seven-week contract. It was stated that a Webinar had been arranged for 24 October 2025, as well as two workshops that were taking place throughout November 2025. The Chairperson of the PSAB confirmed that they would be meeting Amion on 23 October 2025, to start engagement on the Investment Strategy. Members raised concerns regarding the pace of progress and financial support for SWWCJC workstreams. It was acknowledged that while initial setup of governance arrangements took time, substantial regional delivery was now underway; through the SWWCJC as well as other bodies, such as the Celtic Freeport and Swansea Bay City Region. It was emphasised that regional collaboration through the SWWCJC was essential for attracting funding and delivering impactful outcomes that benefit all constituent authorities. RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
The Forward Work Programme was noted.
There were no urgent items.
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