Government grant funding should be merged, says outgoing council chief

Elgan Hearn, Local democracy reporter.

In future, two councils should be treated as one entity when it comes to external grant funding for economic development, a council chief has suggested. 

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Economic Development and Environmental Management scrutiny committee on Tuesday, March 10, councillors received a presentation on the draft blueprint to stimulate economic growth there. 

They also received a report which outlined that Blaenau Gwent expects to receive £9.358 million to invest in economic development. 

This funding comes from the Local Growth Fund (LGF) allocation for South East Wales. 

The LGF is seen as the UK Government’s replacement for grant funding that used to come from the European Union. 

It is expected that when the blueprint for economic growth is eventually finalised, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen will essentially be working as one council in this sphere of work. 

They have agreed to work together on a new Local Development Plan (LDP), and while the federated model guarantees political sovereignty to both councils, it is becoming evident that workforces are becoming more and more integrated and intertwined. 

Opposition Independent group leader Cllr Wayne Hodgins (Brynmawr), referring back to the growth blueprint which had been discussed earlier in the meeting, asked why Blaenau Gwent had been named as the accountable body for the money by itself. 

Cllr Wayne Hodgins said: “With the federated model, I would have thought that the accountable body should be Torfaen and us as we’re trying to align the spend with some of the Torfaen aspirations as well.” 

Interim head of regeneration and development, Hannah Mayrick, said: “They are separate pots; Torfaen would have had its own money. 

“Sovereignty remains at this level of funding and accountable bodies.” 

Joint director of economy for both Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen, Christina Harrhy, said: “A really good point has been raised. What we are doing is lobbying the UK and Welsh Government about the federated model and what that means for us, and how we should be treated differently. 

“In the event of that not being possible, we’ve got separate allocations for both councils. 

“What we’re doing at joint director and heads of service roles, is that we are looking at it across that wider federated model to make sure the synergies can be aligned and maximised as much as possible. 

“We’re making the best of what’s been given to use. 

“Ideally in the future we would like grant allocations that reflects and considers the federated model.” 

Cllr Hodgins said that this would be a concern in his “mind” as there could be disagreements between councillors in Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen on where the money is spent. 

Cllr Hodgins said “There could be a project we would love to buy into and perhaps our partners in Torfaen might not want to go with that as they want to go with this (something else). 

“There are all sorts of things to be worked up over many years. 

Ms Harrhy said: “The blueprint delivery plan once adopted would consider what’s best for both councils working together. 

“We shouldn’t get to that position, but we’re all big enough and adult enough to have a reasonable conversation about it.” 

Cllr Malcolm Cross (Labour – Sirhowy) added that the funding needs to be spent “wisely.” 

Councillors agreed to endorse the report and asked for quarterly briefings to be provided to the committee on how the work progresses.