National Infrastructure Commission for Wales meeting notes: 12 September 2025

NICW

Dr David Clubb, Chair
Dr Jenifer Baxter, Deputy Chair
Helen Armstrong, Commissioner
Steve Brooks, Commissioner
Nick Tune, Commissioner
Dr Eurgain Powell, Commissioner
Elspeth Jones, Nature Guardian

Secretariat/Welsh Government

Stuart Ingram, NICW Secretariat
Nicola Britton, NICW Secretariat

Apologies

Aleena Khan, Commissioner
Eluned Parrott Commissioner

Declaration of interest

No new declarations to be noted.

Notes of previous meeting

Minutes of the previous meeting were updated and approved.

Invitations to events / attendance at events

The following invitations were noted and offered to commissioners to attend.  The chair will provide further details were necessary

• Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum 25^th celebration: 26 September 2026
• NESO: Regional Energy Planning
• Circular Economy for Built Environment: 17 October 2026
• The deputy chair will be speaking at the following events
  • ICE Regional North Wales Dinner
  • Enabling Better Infrastructure International Conference 10 October 2025 (National Preparedness Commission)
• Stuart Ingram will represent NICW at the Place Making Wales Charter Event in Swansea.

Current projections indicate a small underspend for 25/26. Helen Armstrong agreed the allocation for a training project could be repurposed.

Elspeth Jones introduced options for taking forward the Nature on the Board (NOTB) concept. Proposals included ad hoc advice from Lawyers for Nature and a review of NICW reports as part of a student dissertation on NOTB. The Deputy Chair will also explore asking Arup to include some nature based targeted questions as part of the current infrastructure delivery project.

Discussion continued on building a long-term relationship between NICW and Nature on the Board, with ideas such as an annual position on NICW during each NICW 4-year term and developing a set of principles.

Action

• Discuss review of NICW and NOTB as part of dissertation: Elspeth Jones.
• Request targeted questions as part of ARUP study: Jenifer Baxter.
• Explore structure for NOTB and NICW with Simeon Rose: Chair.

The Work Programme report and budget report was circulated to Commissioners in advance. The following specific areas were discussed in relation to the report:

Year 1: renewable energy

A meeting with the Energy Lead in Welsh Government is scheduled for early October.

Year 2: flooding

Staff changes in the WG flood team were noted. Discussion on feedback on the report recommendations lead to wider discussion about the need to challenge the government on official responses. The publication of the Senedd CCEI Committee report on the response to recent storms, and mention of NICW, was noted.

Year 3: climate change communication

Work is progressing on arrangements for publication and launch event for the report.  Discussion focused on the proposed launch event such as the panel discussion and attendees.

Year 4: infrastructure assessment

The upcoming workshop was discussed.   

Year 4: infrastructure delivery

The recently circulated engagement plan was discussed along with the literature review.   

Risk of the month discussion was about insufficient budget. Although this was a higher risk, confirmation of the 2025/2026 budget has reduced it for this year; however, the 2026/27 budget remains unconfirmed. Future budget planning links with wider issues on the future of NICW and therefore a separate session, white paper and meeting with relevant officials to be considered.

Eurgain Powell wanted to draw attention to Britain Talks Climate and the usefulness of the segmentation model and the effectiveness of moving away from technical terminology when communicating on climate and nature issues.

A draft paper had been circulated by the chair in advance of this discussion.  Commissioners discussed how to engage decision makers, concluding a copy would be sent to the Cabinet Secretary for information and requesting a meeting to discuss.  It was recognised it is not within NICW’s purview to push for governance change, but a wider perspective about systemic issues in Wales could be made relevant.

Stuart Ingram provided more details on plans for a facilitated session in November, which would feed in to the annual/final report. Potential venues and facilitators were discussed.

Nicola Britton provided an update with potential for DCfW and NRW engaging with NICW in SE Wales.

Elspeth noted the ARUP stakeholder list for the delivery project had good representation from nature organisations.

The next meeting will take place on 7 October in Bute Park, Cardiff.