Agenda item

To consider a report by the Corporate Director: Economy & Environment (copy enclosed) which seeks the Committee’s observations on the Council’s delivery and governance of the Rhyl Regeneration Programme.

Lead Member for Economic Growth and Tackling Deprivation and Leader of the Council, Councillor Jason McLellan introduced the report (previously circulated).

He informed the Committee the report was a high level overview of the projects and governance arrangements around the delivery of those projects. He thanked his predecessor Councillor Hugh Evans for having the vision to begin the programme and regenerating Rhyl Town Centre.

The Corporate Director: Economy & Environment echoed the statement by the Lead Member. In addition, he stated the report also included details of future plans to allow Members to debate how the programme would be delivered.

Although each project had individual highly detailed planned programmes the report presented to the committee provided an overview of full programme of works. Appendix 2a provided Members with a copy of the overview dashboard, which detailed the current status of each project.

He advised that the Rhyl Regeneration Programme had focused on the physical regeneration projects in the Town Centre of Rhyl. The overall ambition had been to deliver projects which acted as a tool for economic development and growth in the town. The ambition had been to create the environment for residents to have access to good quality employment and a developing economy.

It was anticipated that the programme had almost reached a point where the Town could stand by itself and not rely on public investment in order to support the economy and regeneration. It was hoped the town would attract ongoing inward investment.

Members were informed that the Authority had been successful recently in securing the Vale of Clwyd Levelling Up bid. Work was on going to secure that funding, a range of projects had been proposed through that funding stream. It was also advised that since the time of writing the report, confirmation had been received that £20million had been allocated to the regeneration of Rhyl from the Levelling Up agenda. The funding would be provided over a 10-year period and would provide officers the opportunity to be strategic with the use of that funding over that time period. The requirements and arrangements of the additional funding was still in its infancy and officers had to work through the details involved in the agreement.

The Chair thanked the Lead Member and Corporate Director: Economy & Environment for the detailed introduction.

During the discussion the following areas were discussed in greater detail:

·       The detailed completed projects should all read as completed. It was stressed if the project was listed as completed there was no outstanding elements that required to be done.

·       The term light touch review referred to officer’s intention to review and offer information on a smaller scale than what had been offered at the initial stages of the scheme. It was felt the themes of the regeneration programme remained the same.

·       The Leader advised that the work of the Board was filtered heavily through all the democratic processes.

·       The Rhyl Vision document was just that, a vision, it did not include detailed design and costs of schemes. It was a long-term strategy of the intention to move Rhyl forward. The detail could only be generated through the process and development of specific schemes. The vision provided a vehicle to lever in the funding.

·       The Board was seen by officers as a delivery mechanism for the schemes to be developed. It was focused and involved key officers responsible for those schemes. It was felt the involvement of local knowledge and the community would be vital in shaping the development of future projects. The Rhyl Reference Group would be used more to receive the projects listed in the dashboard for discussion.

·       The additional £20m funding being allocated was a different funding stream from the UK Government Towns fund. There was a requirement for a board to be established. It would be specifically established for that funding stream, officers were still working through the details of the funding and what was required by the authority.

·       The Corporate Director: Economy & Environment was happy to discuss with Members any ideas for the regeneration of Rhyl outside of the meeting.

·       The completion date for the Levelling Up Fund round 3 projects was listed and could not be adjusted. The projects had to be completed by end of March 2026. Some of the projects were more advanced than others, each project had a team of officers developing the work on each element. It was advised that there was a budget for Levelling Up Funding round 3, with the schemes being reviewed and designed around the available budget. Members were made aware of a UK wide concern regarding the strict timescale imposed by the scheme. It was confirmed that the imposed timelines were challenging.

·       Resources across the whole of the Authority was challenging. Members were aware of the current financial requirements and restrictions faced by the Authority. The department would have to remain highly organised and focused to deliver the projects to the deadline. Each of the projects would be delivered to each individual need, with different mechanisms to work through each project. Officers were confident the projects would be delivered successfully on time.

·       Communication with residents and local businesses to engage and inform of the works was vital.

·       The Corporate Director: Economy & Environment stressed there were no requests for any additional financial resources to deliver the projects the authority was delivering in Rhyl.

·       The Prestatyn Central Coastal Defence Improvement Scheme was included in the report as the scheme itself was located in Rhyl. It would protect properties in Prestatyn once completed.

·       One of the overall outcomes of the programme was to promote Rhyl as being an area that attracts private investments and was a place people want to invest. In the long term it was hoped that the need for public money would not be required for public projects to start economic growth in Rhyl. The Queens Market Project would allow the private sector to operate from that premises to support and kick start new and small businesses.

·       Discussions around the empty Sea Aquarium Property were on going. There was no decision to report to Members currently.

·       Communication and work with residents and businesses would be important in the future regeneration and continued development of Rhyl.

The Chair thanked the Corporate Director and Lead Member for the detailed responses to Members questions and comments. Members asked if a further update report could be presented to the Committee in October 2024. The Officers and Leader were in agreement that an update would be available for later in the year. 

RESOLVED that the Communities Scrutiny Committee receive the Rhyl Regeneration Programme and Governance Report and a further update report be included on the forward work programme for the October Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting.