Wales planning news, April 2019

On 13 March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his Spring Statement, which included few details on new funding allocations and policy proposals in light of the already announced full Spending Review that will take place in Summer 2019.

Of particular interest to Wales was the announcement of the allocation of £8m of funding to the North Wales region as part of the Full Fibre Networks challenge fund, which is aimed to aid the development of full fibre broadband coverage across the Region.

The Chancellor also launched a consultation which will consider proposals to support private investment in the delivery of infrastructure across the UK. The Infrastructure Finance Review consultation will close on 5 June 2019.

The Welsh Assembly’s Finance Committee has announced the opening of a new inquiry into the different sources of capital funding available to Welsh Government to fund major projects, such as transport and social infrastructure.

Specifically, the Committee will closely review the Welsh Government’s Mutual Investment Model (MIM) which sees private partners building and maintaining public assets, and the Welsh Government to pay a fee to the private partner to cover the cost of construction, maintenance and project financing. Assets would then be transferred into public ownership at the end of the contract.

The Committee has also launched a consultation to inform their inquiry, inviting those with an interest in the subject to submit evidence. The consultation closes on 23 April 2019.

In January 2019, the Welsh and UK Governments jointly commissioned an independent Review of the arrangements for the delivery of the £1.3bn Swansea Bay City Deal.

The Review has now been published, making seven recommendations on how to improve the delivery of the Deal’s outcomes. The recommendations include the urgent appointment (by end of April 2019) of a Portfolio Director to ensure continuity of and leadership on the Swansea Bay City Deal, and that the UK Government, Welsh Government, and Local Authority officials reach a swift conclusion on the Yr Egin and Swansea Waterfront business cases to ensure funding can flow as needed.

Both Governments accepted the review recommendations. Specifically, they stated that their initial priority will focus on the 'urgent finalisation of the business cases for the Swansea Waterfront Digital District and the project at Yr Egin in Carmarthen'.