Agenda item

·        To present the report of External Audit.

·        To present the response of the Head of Regulation and Economic Development.

·         The report of Audit Wales setting out the main findings from the Auditor General’s review of how local authorities in Wales are managing and regenerating their town centres was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

Mr Mathew Brushett, Audit Wales outlined the context to the report and the audit approach and methodology which involved looking at previous regeneration programmes and current regeneration strategies across councils as well as interviewing regeneration lead officers. The full evidence base for the review is detailed in Appendix 1 of the report. A review tool to enable councils to self-assess their current approaches to town centre regeneration and to identify areas where further work is needed was also produced along with an interactive data tool.

The key messages and overall conclusions from the review are as follows –

·         Town centres are at the heart of Welsh life and can be vibrant and sustainable places, but addressing the many challenges they face requires brave decisions and ambitious leadership;

·         The growth of out of town retail, the progressive loss of essential services from town centres – banks, post offices and public services – and the growth in online shopping have contributed to a steady decline in many town centres. The pandemic has added to these problems.

·         The Welsh Government has invested heavily in town centre regeneration in the last seven years but despite this funding town centres often struggle.

·         Town centre regeneration remains a national priority, but the Welsh Government’s town-centre-first policy is not yet fully embedded.

·         Local Authorities are the key public bodies to help regenerate town centres but they often lack capacity and skills to deliver the sustainable regeneration needed.

·         Local authorities are well-placed to prioritise and lead on place planning but must be clear on the purpose of their town centres and involve public sector partners, the third sector, town and community councils, communities and businesses in decisions. Local Authorities will also have to become increasingly interventionist to address the challenge facing town centres.

The report makes six Wales wide recommendations which are set out in detail in Exhibit 3 but can be summarised thus –

·         Welsh Government should review Non-domestic rates to ensure the system better reflects town-centre conditions when the payments holiday ends in March, 2022

·         Welsh Government should work with local authorities to review transport challenges facing town centres and agree how best to address these

·         Welsh Government should facilitate local authorities’ access to funding for town centres by streamlining and simplifying processes and grant conditions; providing multi-year funding and providing revenue as well as capital support to help address staff capacity and skills shortages

·         Local authorities should effectively and consistently use their existing enforcement, financial and debt recovery powers to support regeneration working across departments.

·         Welsh Government should set out how it plans to deliver its Town Centres First approach in practice, its expectations of partners and the practical steps it will take to make this ambition a reality

·         Local authorities should be receptive to and plan to manage the changes to town centre and use Audit Wales’ regeneration tool to self-assess their current approaches to identify where they need to improve their work on town centre regeneration.

·         The report of the Head of Regulation and Economic Development setting out the Council’s response to the Audit Wales report and recommendations on Regenerating Town Centres in Wales was presented. This included a completed self-assessment exercise to identify areas for improvement and/or further work in response to recommendation six of Audit Wales’ review. The outcome of this exercise shows that the Authority is engaged in all of the 38 identified work areas and details the progress made with regard to each including any barriers to progress.

Mr Mathew Brushett welcomed the completed self-assessment as a candid appraisal of the Authority’s current position including an acknowledgement of strengths and weaknesses and suggested that it might also be helpful to have Scrutiny examine those aspects that require further work and how they might be addressed and for the self-assessment to be converted into an action plan with measurable actions and timescales to take matters forward.

In discussing the report the Committee made the following points –

·         In acknowledging that revitalising town centres requires a joined up approach between all local stakeholders, the Committee sought clarity on the Council’s role and whether it was expected that the Council should always take a leading role or whether it should be  a supporting partner to other organisations.

Mr Nick Selwyn, Audit Wales advised that it is likely to be a combination of both and he referred to examples from the report where both approaches are seen to be effective. There are already in Wales a number of good mechanisms that have been used by a number of communities some of which are referenced in the report. The starting point has to be a dialogue about what the Authority’s ambitions are and then identifying the best mechanisms to deliver change on the ground with the key aspect being the involvement of the full range of people that will benefit and use towns.

·         Whether the role of tourism in regenerating towns had been taken into account in conducting the study. The Vice-Chair highlighted that he would have liked to have seen more examples in the report of towns where regeneration has been successful on a global as well as national level which could provide lessons in terms of what works best.

Mr Nick Selwyn referred the Committee to a report prepared for Welsh Government by Professor Karel Williams on the subject of how local markets are changing based on a detailed study of three communities; the report draws on a number of examples from Europe and looks at their approach to regeneration. The Audit Wales review is meant to align with rather than duplicate Professor Williams’ wider report. He confirmed that tourism had been factored in when undertaking the review and that many of the places that are seen to be flourishing are natural tourist areas. However, not all tourist towns are turning things around with the key factor being how well connected these places are to the wider community and how dependent they are on the services provided in that broader sense.

·         Whether the Levelling Up fund has a role to play and what difference it is likely to make in the long-term.  Mr Nick Selwyn clarified that although the report does not comment on the Levelling Up fund as the fund was in the process of being finalised when the report was being completed, the National Audit Office has recently issued a report on the Levelling up Fund which will help with understanding some of the challenges that this agenda will bring. Having access to funding and using it effectively will have an impact on the ground. Whilst local authorities have a proven record of physical regeneration by way of building works and improving facilities, the challenge lies in being clear on the purpose of towns in the future and what the Authority wants to achieve for its towns.

In response to a further question about the relevance of levelling up to smaller towns which have suffered economically because of a decline in retail with Amlwch cited as a case in point, Mr Nick Selwyn advised that although the challenges can be significant, success outside of levelling up funds has been achieved with strong leadership and a clear vision for what the Council wants to achieve in its towns and using the powers available to it to make that happen. It is also about having ambition and working with partners to make the changes. However not every town will thrive in the way the Council might want and it will have to accept that different towns have different roles and purposes.

The Regeneration Manager provided a brief overview of the Council’s regeneration efforts and outlined current activities in Llangefni, Beaumaris, Amlwch and Holyhead supported by funding from Welsh Government and other sources. Anglesey and other rural counties have been lobbying for smaller towns to be provided with support and a policy change means that capital funding of up to £250k is now available for small towns through the Place Making grant. Welsh Government has also indicated that it is moving to a three year funding cycle. On a UK basis, capital funding for infrastructure purposes is available through the Levelling Up Fund and revenue funding is available through both the Community Renewal Fund and the Shared Prosperity Fund. The latter allows local authorities to designate their own priorities within a broad framework. These funding sources together provide opportunities to help smaller towns.

The Chair thanked all the Officers for their contributions and members for the debate.

It was resolved to note the findings and recommendations of the report by Audit Wales with regard to regenerating town centres in Wales and to accept and to note the response provided by the Head of Regulation and Economic Development including the self-assessment of progress.