Consultants brought in to try and ensure deal is struck by year end

Consultants will be brought in to help ensure the £110 million Mid Wales Growth Deal is in place at the end of the year.

At a meeting of the Growing Mid Wales Board on Wednesday, May 27, members were told that £80,000 had been earmarked for this purpose.

Mid Wales Growth Deal, Strategic manager Carwyn Jones-Evans, explained that other growth deals had used expert help to get over the line.

Mr Jones-Evans said: “The issue that we’ve got is capacity constraints, to date we have largely relied on officer teams from both Powys and Ceredigion economic development teams.

“To conclude the deal in as short a time as possible it’s become clear we would need to bring in additional capacity.

“The management office is being established but it’s not going to be a solution.”

He pointed out that both the North Wales and Borderlands (Scotland) growth deals had brought in consultants to help them.

Mr Jones-Evans added that staff working on the deal had “competing demands” on their time.

He believed that bringing in experts with the experience of dealing with Welsh and UK Government would help get things done quicker.

Mr Jones Evans, said: “If we do this ourselves the time-scale could slip into next year.”

He added that since the Heads of Terms had been signed just before Christmas 2020, the workload had “increased significantly.”

Powys Council leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris feared she would receive flak for agreeing to bring in consultants.

Cllr Harris said: “I’m very keen to get this finalised by the end of the year if we possibly can, but what I am a bit concerned about is a bit of reputational damage to the two authorities.

“There will be critics.

“We need to be a little bit careful; we have an opposition in Powys who might pounce on this.”

Ceredigion Council leader. Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn explained that the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund had been added to the staff workload and due to its short timescale had needed to be prioritised.

Cllr ap Gwynn said: “All our officers have been concentrating on that funding because the closing date is June 18, we hardly had two months to get that up and ready.

“To be fair their time has been focussed elsewhere and is a reason why we need this extra capacity to push us forward and we can sign up before Christmas.”

The Board agreed the decision.

The Welsh and UK Government believe the growth deal has an “important part” to play in the recovery phase of the economy, after Covid-19.

In October 2019 the UK Government announced a £55 million injection of funding, that was to be spread over 15 years.

In March this timescale was shortened to 10 years.

The Welsh Government will match the £55million but have yet to say whether they will drop the timescale down from 15 to 10 years.

The GMW Board is made up of councillors from the cabinets of both Ceredigion and Powys County Council as well as some representation from private business in the region.