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Time for a new relationship with local government

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Asking local government leaders for their ideas: Alun Davies

I LIKE to think that I’m not often lost for words in the Chamber. But during my oral questions session the other week, Plaid’s spokesperson, Sian Gwenllian, asked me a question that momentarily left me like a goldfish gasping for breath.

Sian asked me what would be my style as a minister. I guess that she wanted to know whether I’d be more Leighton or Mark. Whether I would seek to impose a policy or seek a consensus. I have no idea whether my response pleased her or not. But it was a good question and it has led me to think again how I would answer the question.

Over the years successive ministers have tried several different approaches and styles. Local government leaders have been flattered, cajoled, persuaded and been drawn into temptation by a whole feast of ministerial offerings. This is certainly one area of policy where there have been an embarrassment of riches with a whole government full of green papers, white papers, commissions and strategies and speeches and statements.

What all of this earnest activity has in common is that it has all failed to deliver any meaningful reform of either the structures or ways of working in local government. It has failed to deliver change or reform and it has failed to create a consensus on the shape of what any reform may actually look like. Maps have come and gone. Footprints debated and heads nodded. Within a month of my own appointment I was told at the WLGA’s seminar in Cardiff in no uncertain terms to put away the Bill and the policy that I had inherited only a couple of weeks previously.

And no report from the WLGA seminar would be complete without mention of Newport’s Debbie Wilcox who has taken the organisation by the scruff of the neck. Her powerful speech set the tone for the day and impressed all of us with her emphasis on the value and importance of localism within the devolved context.

And it was this speech which first helped me to understand that times are changing.

As well as telling me that the inherited policy of mandated regional working wasn’t a runner I was also told that the current shape and structure of local government is not sustainable. And it is this latter point that has dominated my conversations with local government leaders since November.

In my initial conversations I see a generation of leaders committed to their communities and to local government as a powerful and dynamic shaper of those communities. These are people that understand only too well that the failure to agree on an approach to local government policy reflects poorly on everyone – local government and Welsh Government. Repeating the word ‘no’ during difficult times engenders neither confidence nor conviction.

Since taking office I have tried to spend time talking with people. From the wonderful Guildhall in Swansea to the marvellous civic centre in Newport and a former cell in Caernarfon I have discussed and enjoyed the creative force of leaders with drive and energy and a determination to lead change. And I am left with the absolute belief that local government has the vision and the ambition to transform our communities. And to deliver on this vision they need the powers and the freedoms to chart their own courses.

So what is the role for Welsh Government? Great efforts have been made recently to re-build and re-set the relationship and there is certainly a sense that things have improved significantly. We need to build on these firm foundations. For me it is time that Welsh Government joined the debate over the future of local government with a degree of humility rather than an over-large helping of hubris. Too often in the past the tone from Welsh Government has been hectoring, arrogant and policy expressed in intemperate language with criticism that has been unwarranted and unjustified.

Perhaps it’s time for the Government to say sorry and to start again.

So this brings me to answer Sian’s question.

In resetting the relationship between the Welsh Government and local government we need to root our approach firmly in the values of local democracy. A belief in not only civic pride but in local government and local decision-making rather than the local administration of national priorities. A belief that local government leaders and strong councils are better able to deliver excellent public services and to protect the interests of public service workers than a series of instructions from the Bay.

So I have written to all local government leaders asking them for their ideas for powers that should be provided to local government. What are the freedoms and flexibilities that they need to deliver on their mandates and ambitions? I will publish the answers and will publish a route map to deliver those new powers.

But I cannot travel on this journey alone.

The new powers alone will not provide all the answers to the question of sustainability that were so powerfully put back in November. The leader of a rural authority told me last week of the reductions they were making – hundreds of jobs lost over the last few years. And it is this erosion of the public workforce with its inevitable impact on services provided and the terms of service for those who keep their jobs that worries me most. No-one is a winner today. And no-one that I have met wants more of the same.

So the Welsh Government needs to change its approach and to provide for a new relationship. And that also means a new tone. A tone rooted in the respect for local mandates and the pressures faced by local councillors and public service workers. A tone and an approach which seeks to build together a joint venture to provide local authorities with the new powers they need. And then we need to build together the structures that will enable authorities to deliver on those new powers.

It may well be the case that after nearly two decades of devolved government that our democracy is maturing and that the relationship between a more powerful Welsh parliament and more powerful local authorities will be one where we can learn to govern together as a single Welsh public service and leave the arguments and negative debates in the past.

I certainly hope so.

This article appeared originally on the personal blog of Alun Davies AM and is reproduced with his kind permission.

Alun Davies is the AM for Blaenau Gwent and the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services

News

Egg and farm shop to open at award-winning west Wales farm

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A SCHEME for a self-serve egg and farm shop at an award-winning 32,000-chicken Ceredigion farm, to allow it to receive a UK Shared Prosperity fund grant, has been approved by county planners.

Ben Edkins, of Edkins Eggs, Coed Farm, Cilcennin sought permission to site a self-serve farm shop on an existing yard area at the site.

A supporting letter submitted through agent Morgan & Flynn Architectural Services described it as “a more advanced version of an egg stand, with honesty box, which has been a staple for people producing eggs for centuries”.

It added: “This method of selling eggs has already proven to be a hit with communities in Ceredigion, given the success of the already established egg dispenser located in Aberystwyth town centre.”

Family-owned Edkins Eggs, which supplies multiple businesses across the area with eggs, including Aberaeron’s Y Seler, Hive, Harbourmaster, and Costcutters, has been awarded a grant to cover the cost of part of the proposal, on the condition that planning approval is granted, the statement added.

“The grant, which is a UK shared prosperity fund for the Mid Wales region as part of the ‘Cynnal Y Cardi Fund’ provided by Ceredigion County Council was granted in December 2023.

“For this grant to be claimed, it is required that planning permission is granted, the construction is completed and also the egg dispensers are implemented by December 2024. This gives the applicants a 12-month window from the point of the grant awarded to completion of proposal.”
The building itself will include a solar panel array providing the power for the egg dispensing unit and lighting, and it is hoped to create one extra job at 227-acre Coed Farm, home to 32,000 chickens producing free range eggs, 90 beef cattle and 200 sheep.

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A green infrastructure statement by the agent added: “The creation of this building to house the self-serve farm shop to enhance the established family-owned business ‘Edkins Eggs’, which also has provisions to allow for other local companies producing items such as vegetables and honey to sell their products, will provide a facility for the local community to purchase locally produced goods directly from the supplier.

“This will not only provide an enhanced shopping experience in terms of being able to purchase directly from the farm, which could act as an educational benefit especially for children, but also provide the additional facility of a small-scale shop to the local area, whereas currently the community would either have to travel to the service centres of either Aberaeron or Felinfach.”

The application was conditionally approved under delegated powers.

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More talks on new Haverfordwest ‘Instagram-friendly’ bridge

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A “CALL-IN” on plans for an “Instagram-friendly” new footbridge in the centre of Haverfordwest, made by Pembrokeshire’s Conservative group and the IPG group will see the matter return to the council’s cabinet.

At the March 11 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, members awarded the contract for the Haverfordwest footbridge and Western Quayside phase two project.

The signature bridge scheme, in the Haverfordwest conservation area, also includes a “plaza” public realm reconfiguration and enhancement and the repair, renewal and refurbishment of the former Cleddau Foundry building.

It forms part of the Heart of Pembrokeshire regeneration project, which was previously awarded a Levelling Up Fund grant.

Concerns about the bridge – and potential costs – have previously been raised, and the design of the new bridge has previously been labelled “Instagrammable” by Councillor Rhys Jordan when raising questions about costs associated with it.

The bridge is also part of a wider regeneration of the county town, which includes the “Ocky White” Western Quayside retail development and a new transport interchange on the site of the former multi-storey car park.

At the March 11 meeting, council leader David Simpson said: “If we cancelled the actual bridge now, we would lose the 90 per cent funding, it would cost us more than for a really nice bridge in the centre of town, and to me is an asset to the community.”

In a letter to the administration, the Welsh Conservative group, led by Councillor Di Clements, asked for the decision to award the contract to be scrutinised further saying that “given its sizeable cost estimation and the high public interest in the matter, the Welsh Conservative group believe that this decision deserves full and proper scrutiny at committee level.”

A similar “call-in” was also made by the Independent Group.

Documents before the March 26 meeting of the council’s services overview and scrutiny committee, where the “call-in” was heard, said the cost of the bridge project amounts to £5.7m out of an overall Heart of Pembrokeshire budget of £25.4m; of that money, external funding of £17.7m (70 per cent) has been secured for the overall project and £5.1m (90 per cent) secured for the bridge project.

This leaves council costs at £7.7m for the overall project, and £600,000 for the bridge and associated works, the report for members said, with costs to date for the two projects amounting to £3.9m for the Heart of Pembrokeshire project, and £1.1m for the bridge only.

Speaking at the meeting, deputy leader Councillor Paul Miller responded to the ‘call-in’ request, saying the bridge scheme was part of the regeneration of Haverfordwest aimed at giving it “a real shot in the arm”.

He said repairing the existing bridge instead of using the levelling-up grants for a replacement bridge, and associated works, would mean the grants would disappear, leaving the council to foot the £1.1m incurred to date, with no new bridge and all bills the council’s responsibility.

Members also herd the option of simply replacing the existing bridge on a ‘like-for-like’ basis was expected to top £900,000.

“Here, where we are today, we’ve effectively got the choice of about £600,000 to carry on or we can do anything else which will definitely at least double the cost, that is the position we’re in today,” Mr Miller said.

Admitting he was channelling the famous phrase of President Kennedy and his 1960s promise to land a man on the moon before the end of that decade, Mr Miller said: “We’re doing this because it’s hard, not because it’s easy.”

Tory group leader Councillor Di Clements’ “call-in” asked: “I’d like to move a recommendation as a committee member that this item is sent back to cabinet for further clarification around the quotes and cost estimations to maintain the bridge to ensure that statements that have been made by cabinet members in the public realm are accurate. This will be the only method for members to see these figures.

“While the committee appreciate the Cabinet member [Mr Miller] was not in attendance at the meeting where this was awarded, the statements have been made nonetheless and the public deserve honesty and clarity on this matter.

“Cabinet should also further discuss the financial implications of this project on the budget going forward as this was not discussed at the previous cabinet meeting where it was proposed.”

Committee members, by seven votes to four, backed Ms Clements’ proposal the matter be referred back to Cabinet.

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Lib Dems Mid and South Pembrokeshire general election hopeful

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A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT county councillor has become the third candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the new Mid and South Pembrokeshire general election seat.

As part of constituency changes, which will automatically take effect at the next general election, Pembrokeshire’s current seats of Preseli Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, currently held by Conservative MPs Stephen Crabb and Simon Hart respectively, are to change.

As part of the constituency changes, parts of north Pembrokeshire – including St Davids – are joining the new Mid and South Pembrokeshire constituency, which will replace the Pembrokeshire parts of the current Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.

The north of the county will be part of a new Ceredigion Preseli constituency joining parts of north Pembrokeshire – including Crymych and Maenclochog – with Plaid Cymru held Ceredigion.

The new constituencies take effect automatically from the next scheduled General Election, following a Westminster vote to cut the number of Welsh MPs from 40 to 32.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have announced Alistair Cameron as their candidate, joining current Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb for the Tories and Labour’s Henry Tufnell.

Mr Cameron, county councillor for the Kilgetty and Begelly ward on Pembrokeshire County Council, a former English teacher and council leader of an English Borough Council, is a governor at three local schools and sits on the council’s Schools and Learning and Social Care Scrutiny Committees, and acts as the council’s Learning Disabilities Champion.

Commenting on his selection Cllr Cameron said: “The cost-of-living crisis has hit Pembrokeshire hard, with child poverty rates among the highest in Wales. As your candidate, I am pushing for quality local jobs that offer fair wages to help families get by. Additionally, I aim to urge the UK government to boost support for offshore wind and green hydrogen industries off our coastline, creating skilled, sustainable employment for our region.

“Residents across Pembrokeshire are frustrated with long waits to access healthcare under the Labour-led system, whether seeing a GP, finding an NHS dentist, or getting hospital treatment for serious illnesses. I will fight for improved accessibility to vital service, pushing for life-saving treatments like radiotherapy to be readily available for all local residents who need them.

“I will also push to remove obstacles created by the current European trade deal, ensuring future agreements uphold high standards for health, the environment and animal welfare. I am committed to preventing our local farmers and food manufacturers from facing unfair competition. They need a fairer and more workable farming payment scheme than the one currently proposed.

“As your representative in Westminster, I will work tirelessly towards a better and fairer deal for Pembrokeshire.”

Current Preseli MP Conservative Stephen Crabb, who was officially selected earlier this year, said at the time: “It’s been a huge privilege to represent my home constituency of Preseli Pembrokeshire at Westminster since 2005, and I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to seek re-election.  I have a strong record of action and delivery for residents in Preseli Pembrokeshire and I look forward to continuing this work and building on it in South Pembrokeshire.”

Labour’s Henry Tufnell, who was selected last year, said: “I am fully focussed on the forthcoming General Election and the chance to give Pembrokeshire a fresh start.

“Our county is desperately in need of change – the cost-of-living crisis is biting hard and our public services are in dire need of proper funding after years of Tory austerity in Westminster.

“Labour is ready to provide that change with a long term plan that will bring good jobs and economic prosperity to the county.”

Plaid Cymru has been contacted to see when their candidate is due to be selected.

Candidates confirmed to date in the neighbouring constituency of Ceredigion Preseli are current Ceredigion MP Ben Lake for Plaid Cymru, Liberal Democrat Mark Williams, a former MP for Ceredigion, and Welsh Labour’s Jackie Jones, with no details of a Conservative candidate yet released.

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