Hopes that £110 million deal will be agreed this autumn

At a meeting of the Growing Mid Wales Board on Friday, Powys County Council leader Councillor Rosemarie Harris told fellow board members that the UK Government were keen to finalise the deal.

She and Ceredigion Council leader Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn had met David TC Davies MP, the UK Government’s Wales Office under-secretary to discuss the deal.

Councillor Harris, who was also chairing the meeting, said: “I thought it was very positive, he was very much on our wavelength and was pushing for the final deal in a very short space of time which is exactly what we wanted.”

“He was pushing to get a deal by early autumn, September, I think it’s great.

“We’ve been concerned that this is all taking too long.

“We are in our final year of this term of council for all of us and it would be quite nice to get it tied up.”

Councillor ap Gwynn added: “He was positive and wants to see things moving forward, as he always has, he wants to know more about the possible projects.

“He was assured that there is a short list that will be looked at soon and people have been appointed to project posts in the office as well as the consultants which will help us move quicker from now on.”

Consultants

Councillor Ap Gwynn added that a letter will be sent to the new Welsh Government minister for the economy, Vaughan Gething, asking for a meeting to discuss the deal.

At the last meeting in board meeting in May, members agreed to bring in consultants in to help clinch the deal as soon as possible.

Fears had been raised that the process could slip into next year.

This is due to economic development staff in both authorities working flat out on UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

The closing date for applications for that is June 18, and due to its short timescale the fund had needed to be prioritised.

Mid Wales Growth Deal, strategic manager Carwyn Jones-Evans, explained that a tender process to appoint the consultants would close today.

He said that that they would be sifting through the application in the hope of appointing consultants by the end of next week.

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.