New regional government to spend £100k ‘doing minimum’

A NEW regional government body in south-east Wales will spend more than £100,000 next year to do the “bare minimum”.

Four corporate joint committees (CJCs) will be set up this year with major powers on regional planning and transport.

But due to a row with Westminster, unresolved financial issues on tax and borrowing mean that initially the south-east CJC will do the “bare bones” minimum required by law.

This involves setting a budget of only “nominal costs” of £101,848 for the next financial year beginning this April. This money will be funded by the 10 local councils in the south east.

Cardiff council leader Huw Thomas said: “There are still some issues with financial arrangements, like VAT and the tax status of the new CJCs. So the south-east CJC will operate initially on a bare minimum basis, until those issues are resolved.”

Updates on the new regional government bodies were given recently at a Cardiff council cabinet meeting on January 20, and a Vale of Glamorgan council meeting on January 24.

The south-east CJC will cover Monmouthshire, Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan, and Bridgend. The other three CJCs will cover the south west, the north, and mid-Wales.

These four regional government bodies will have major powers deciding where huge housing developments should be built, with strategic development plans; and where key transport infrastructure should be upgraded, with regional transport plans. Economic development will be another role, investing in up-and-coming industries and creating jobs.

But several concerns about CJCs have already been raised. As well as the delays due to financial issues, some councillors in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan fear the new regional government bodies will lack transparency and accountability, taking decision-making further away from local people and shrouding powers in confusing acronyms and structures.

Councillor George Carroll, leader of the Conservative group on the Vale council, said: “We don’t believe that CJCs are the best way to go about delivering services. We have serious concerns that it will result in the centralisation of powers, when we think it’s better to take decisions closer to our communities.”

In south-east Wales, the CJC is stuck in a bind between Westminster not providing detail on financial issues, and the Welsh Government demanding it must be set up this year in law and set a budget by the end of January.