IT IS STILL unclear when councillors will examine how money to replace funds previously received from the European Union should be shared out across Wales.
Funds for improving economic prospects and addressing inequalities were previously awarded direct from Brussels to the Welsh Government to be spent across the country according to need.
Following Brexit the Shared Prosperity Fund was put in place by the previous Conservative government in Westminster to distribute similar funds over three years and though the new Labour government agreed to maintain it for the 2025/26 financial year it was at a reduced level.
As a result some organisations have lost funding including the Together Works community centre in Caldicot, which has only been able to continue after a charity stepped in to provide it with a financial lifeline.
Monmouthshire councillors in March examined how the funding, which is worth nearly £2.4m at its reduced level to the county, was allocated and its deputy leader Paul Griffiths criticised how the scheme was set up and the timeframes involved.
The Chepstow Labour councillor, who is responsible for the economy, said a partnership board he and a council director sat on with local businesses and other public service bodies had to decide how to allocate the funding, which he said was in line with rules put in place by the previous government.
This year he said the board had to demand business cases from organisations for their funding to continue with just weeks to spare.
Cllr Griffiths told councillors, in March, there had been “ridiculous haste” in setting up the Shared Prosperity Fund and said: “It was to deliberately increase the role of the UK Government and limit the role of the devolved governments and I think the consequence of that intention to increase that central control ended up, perhaps not intentionally, limiting the role of local authorities.”
He said while the Labour UK Government has promised control of its replacement for the Shared Prosperity Fund will be returned to the devolved governments there is little time to put in place a system for deciding how funds will be allocated from the 2026/27 financial year.
He had warned councillors the clock is ticking on putting in place a new system and said: “We must make sure there is time available for a more open bidding process.”
At the April meeting of the council’s performance and overview scrutiny committee Caldicot West End Labour councillor Jill Bond asked when a meeting to consider the Shared Prosperity Fund would be held.
A committee clerk said he would have to check for an update on when a meeting could be arranged.
