Corporate Joint Committees: position statement for regional collaboration

Who this position statement is for?

This Statement is for Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs), the wider local government family and any stakeholders and partners who support or work with CJCs.

Aims

The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) between the Welsh Government and local government in Wales, published in June 2025, sets out that:

“As well as respecting each other’s roles and responsibilities, we will also have shared ambitions. We also recognise that sometimes a regional geography will provide the best mechanism to deliver those ambitions. The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 created CJCs as the democratic decision-making bodies for regional working in specific areas.

The 4 CJCs exercise functions relating to strategic development planning and regional transport planning. They are also able to promote the economic well-being of their areas.

The approach to the development of the CJC model continues to be one of collaboration between national and local government, recognising that one size does not fit all.”

Building on the Strategic Partnership Agreement, and 4 years on from the establishment of CJCs, the purpose of this Position Statement is therefore to:

• clarify expectations around current statutory functions as democratically accountable regional bodies established to enable easier, quicker and more effective regional collaboration where it makes sense to do so
• reinforce the strategic decision-making role of CJCs to provide an opportunity through shared regional decision making to enhance and strengthen local delivery in turn supporting improved regional outcomes
• recognise the importance of flexibility in there not being a 'one size fits all’ approach to best enable CJCs to respond to the distinct pace, capacity and priorities across the 4 regions 
• avoid unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication, in line with principles contained in the Strategic Partnership Agreement
• outline potential for CJCs to play a role in maximising regional economic growth, transport integration and land-use planning

Councils have always created and maintained collaborative arrangements to support cost-effective and efficient delivery of services. However, until the creation of CJCs there was no legal arrangement which was a body corporate and able to employ staff, hold budgets and so on, other than an arms’ length local government company.

This meant collaborative governance arrangements could be complex, decision making could take a considerable time, and the arrangements lacked stability for the councils involved. Sometimes separate new arrangements needed to be developed to meet criteria of funders for regional schemes like the City and Growth Deals.

CJCs were established to provide a coherent, consistent and democratically led and controlled framework for regional collaboration. Where appropriate, and in line with the functions of the CJCs, they provide a basis to remove the need for multiple arrangements for separate but related regional grant schemes.

The 4 CJCs were established on 1 April 2021 by way of Regulations (referred to as ‘the Establishment Regulations’) made under powers in Part 5 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021. The CJCs were based on the geographical areas requested by local government, which reflected existing regional collaborative arrangements. The Establishment Regulations place specific duties on the CJCs to prepare a Strategic Development Plan and a Regional Transport Plan.

To support and complement the above statutory duties, the Establishment Regulations also provide each CJC with an economic well-being power, the power to do anything it considers is likely to promote or improve the economic well-being of its area.

Integrating economic development with transport and land use planning in CJCs can boost regional growth by leveraging the links between these areas. It also provides a robust basis on which to build and deepen the impact and outcomes from regional collaboration, informed by the knowledge and expertise of locally, democratically elected representatives. This model was also adopted to work alongside other established models of regional collaboration including those used by councils on different geographical footprints (e.g. Arfor; cross-border partnerships).

The report of the Hunt/Medi Group Place Based Development Advisory Group  in 2024 concluded that regional joined up working in these functions:

“would make better use of existing resources and help shift from a position of short-term firefighting to future proofing and long-term sustainability.”

The report by Councillor Anthony Hunt (Leader, Torfaen) and Councillor Llinos Medi (then Leader, Anglesey) was in response to the Roads Review.

The main reasons for 3 functions being brought together within the CJC include:

• They represent areas of policy where things are better done regionally. Recognising that delivery should generally remain the responsibility of councils, there is benefit in partners coming together on a regional footprint to enable a joined up strategic approach to decision making relating to these functions to ensure the best outcomes for citizens. 
• The connectivity and interdependencies of the 3 functions mean there is value in them being brought together in a single and joined up governance structure.  Aligning these functions at a regional level provides opportunities to directly support the Well-being of Future Generation Act’s 5 ways of working (long term, prevention, integration, collaboration, involvement) and the seven well-being goals.

Therefore, the current purposes of CJCs are to:

• provide collective leadership that enables coherent regional transport, land use and economic development planning on a consistent regional basis across council boundaries
• pool skills, resources and ideas, joining up a range of large-scale activities and programmes to ensure better strategic alignment, value for money and local delivery alignment
• act as strategic enablers for a region, facilitating investment at a scale unlikely to be achieved by councils working alone 
• make democratically accountable decisions at a regional level reflecting local needs and therefore enhancing delivery

CJCs offer a formalised vehicle where councils can share sovereignty over decision making. Decisions about the best approach for a region are made by the Leaders of constituent councils on behalf of those councils, as the elected representatives who are best placed to make them, pooling their knowledge to take decisions that support improved regional and local outcomes.   

The following principles set out the shared expectations for how CJCs operate across Wales. They provide clarity for the Welsh Government, councils and partners on the purpose of CJCs, how they should collaborate, and the conditions needed for effective regional working. The aim of the principles is to ensure CJCs add strategic value, strengthen their accountability to constituent councils and the public, and support consistent, efficient regional decision making while respecting local needs and priorities:

• Differing approaches according to the needs of the region are respected, with decision-making at the regional level undertaken by the CJC where councils believe it will add strategic value, provide better outcomes for residents and realise economies-of-scale benefits.
• While statutory duties must be met, progression is flexible, reflecting capacity, resource and local needs and priorities. 
• CJCs that want to develop their capability and capacity further can progress without hindrance (within the confines of their statutory functions).
• CJCs are one vehicle for streamlining regional governance.
• Whilst CJCs provide the framework for strategic regional planning and decision making, delivery is still mainly locally focused and led, removing the need for duplication of delivery mechanisms.
• Welsh Government and CJCs will work together to ensure CJCs have the capacity and capability to effectively undertake statutory roles.
• CJCs are accountable both to their constituent councils and citizens providing a clear democratic link back to constituent councils and citizens.
• Overview and scrutiny of the CJC is for constituent councils, not the CJC itself.
• CJCs provide a consistent basis for regional collaboration for current functions between councils in Wales.

Partnership working

CJCs sit within a wider Local Government landscape that includes councils, national park authorities, Public Service Boards, Regional Skills Partnerships, City and Growth Deals, Freeports and Investment Zones structures and Industry and academic partners. Partnership working across this landscape is critical to the effective working of CJCs.

The challenges of working in partnership can be manifold, but complex, multi-faceted issues can only be addressed effectively with a multi-agency response. The CJC, as an overarching regional strategic partnership of democratically elected Leaders, can play a role tackling duplication and ensuring overall arrangements are effective and proportionate.

The Welsh Government will work with all CJCs and councils where they identify ways to achieve more proportionate regional partnership arrangements which minimise duplication of time and effort, maximise opportunities for synergies and deliver better outcomes for the public. This includes their relationships and working arrangements with other statutory partnerships across their region.

CJCs are also required to engage citizens. In line with statutory requirements, they must consider how people in the regions are involved and aware of their work, including ensuring they clearly communicate discussions and decisions in an accessible way, such as dedicated websites. In doing this, they can build on the existing good practice we have seen around Regional Transport Plans.

In line with the Strategic Partnership Agreement, CJCs are expected to demonstrate:

• transparency in decision making
• clear democratic accountability back to constituent councils
• proportionate governance, avoiding unnecessary committee layers and process
• streamlined reporting, reducing repeated scrutiny and duplicated processes

CJCs and councils have suggested there is an opportunity to streamline governance and administrative burdens including reviewing CJCs’ governance arrangements to simplify structures while maintaining statutory requirements. Welsh Government encourages CJCs to work creatively and we have also committed to undertake an independent review of existing governance arrangements by the end March 2026. Following the outcomes of this review we will consider what steps we can take to support rationalisation.

CJCs were established to provide a consistent and democratically led mechanism to enable regional collaboration between councils.  It is vital democratic decision-making in CJCs is transparent and CJCs are held to account. When representing their council in the CJC, Leaders need to ensure that elected members of their council are kept up to date on the work of the CJC, for example through periodic reports to full council as appropriate. There is a similar expectation for representatives of National Park Authorities to report back to their respective authorities.

CJC Regulations provide for scrutiny by the constituent councils of the CJC. Just like a council, a CJC is required to participate in local scrutiny and have regard to the recommendations made by scrutiny committees of its constituent councils. Councils can decide to exercise their holding to account of the CJC through a joint overview and scrutiny committee. All CJCs are required to have a governance and audit sub-committee, which also has a part to play in scrutiny. The costs and benefits and the added value of establishing and managing these committees differ between regions, with variations in the size, shape and nature of regional footprints and number of councils represented.

To enable the development of capacity and governance arrangements in each region to maximise the opportunities of further decision-making responsibility, the Welsh Government commits to reviewing and updating the statutory guidance on CJCs when appropriate, to ensure that CJCs have clarity on statutory duties, engagement and governance.

CJCs must meet their two statutory duties through the development of a Strategic Development Plan (SDP) and a Regional Transport Plan (RTP). This Position Statement acknowledges the significant progress made by all regions in meeting these duties and sets out the steps for further progress in the short to medium term.

Strategic Development Plans

The development of SDPs is intended to enable a more consistent, cost effective and efficient approach to planning. SDPs also aim to deliver more effective planning outcomes for communities by ensuring important issues, development and associated infrastructure are planned for in an integrated and comprehensive way across a wider geographical area.

Delivery Agreements (DA) have been agreed for South East Wales (August 2025) and North Wales (February 2026) enabling formal commencement of the SDP preparation process in both regions. The South West Wales CJC consulted on a draft Delivery agreement starting in December 2025 and the final Delivery Agreement is awaited for Welsh Government approval.

Regional Transport Plans (RTPs)

The process of developing RTPs included all CJCs setting out policies in their Regional Transport Plans, which provide for connected communities via safe, integrated and efficient transport facilities and services in the region. These Regional Transport Plans were submitted by each CJC and approved by Ministers in Autumn 2025. This approval marked a significant step in strengthening regional collaboration. All CJCs also successfully submitted Regional Transport Delivery Plans to ensure approvals can be secured for the start of 2026 to 2027 funding.

To support regional decision-making, several transport funding streams have been brought together to form the Regional Transport Fund (RTF). The RTF, operational from 2026 to 2027, aligns with new regional ways of working. This new, single grant provides each region with the ability to work together on how transport grant funding is spent, with strong delivery plans and streamlined access to funding for the councils delivering on the plans. It enables a strategic approach to engaging with partners on transport matters. The CJCs also provide opportunities for councils to collectively engage in national transport policy discussions.

Indicative Year 1 RTF allocations were issued to CJCs, providing clarity on both capital and revenue funding and enabling each region to prepare coordinated delivery programmes. This includes dedicated revenue for CJC administration of their RTP and delivery plan, as well as significantly increased capital allocations in some regions. Final delivery programmes were submitted to Welsh Government early in 2026.

The economic well-being power

Additionally, CJCs have a broad economic well-being power, that is a power to do anything that it considers is likely to promote or improve the economic well-being of its area. CJCs are already taking a greater role in coordinating regional economic development and helping prioritise investment in their regions.

There is no set definition of economic well-being, which gives CJCs the flexibility to set ambitious goals in how they collaborate strategically to foster sustainable prosperity and growth in their regions.

Regional Transport Plans and Strategic Development Plans are critical enablers to this and, in combination with the economic well-being power, provide CJCs with the opportunity to create a coherent framework to deliver regional economic growth for their people and communities.

City and growth deals and investment zones

At the request of local government, CJCs were established on the footprint of Wales’ 4 city and growth deals. South-East Wales and North Wales have transferred their city or growth deal governance arrangements into their respective CJCs, with South West Wales CJC in the process of doing so. This has ensured invedstment objectives are consistent with other relevant strategic planning for the region and that the CJCs can fully realise the investment opportunities available.

The Investment Zone programme is a joint UKG/WG Programme, with two Investment Zones in Wales, one in south-east Wales and the other in north-east Wales. Investment Zones support the growth of specific sectoral and regional strengths within existing clusters in each area. Investment Zone planning and management sits in the relevant CJCs to support the economic well-being of the wider region.

Supporting CJCs

Alongside funding provided by constituent councils, the Welsh Government continues to provide additional financial support to CJCs recognising their differing positions, compositions and capacity in providing appropriate, support. In 2025 to 2026 the Welsh Government has provided up to £2 million funding to CJCs, consisting of £200,000 to each CJC to strengthen capacity and governance arrangements; up to £200,000 for each CJC to support the completion of Regional Transport Plans; and made available up to £400,000 to accelerate the preparation of Strategic Development Plans (currently allocated to North and South East CJC, with discussions ongoing with other CJCs). The Welsh Government also facilitates access to resources such as Transport for Wales’ expertise.

Given universal pressures on budgets, future funding arrangements for CJCs need to be considered as part of decisions over future roles and functions.

The 2021 Act enables councils to make an application to the Welsh Ministers to amend a CJC’s Establishment Regulations to include a function or functions of the councils. The Welsh Ministers can make regulations to give effect to these applications.  In the absence of such an application from councils, the Welsh Ministers cannot add functions to the CJCs that are not set out in section 74 of the 2021 Act without making primary legislation.

As was set out in the Strategic Partnership Agreement, CJCs have been established to provide a basis for regional democratic decision-making in defined areas where it makes sense to do so. The Welsh Government remains committed to supporting the development of CJCs’ capacity and capability. The below outlines areas where this is already being explored or where there may be potential to do so in the future. These would all be subject to agreement of the constituent councils.

• Enhanced regional collaboration on planning
• Regional Transport funding and delivery
• Economic Well-being: 
  • Employability and Skills
  • Regional Energy
  • Freeports and Investment Zones
  • Regeneration
  • Digital Infrastructure
  • Agri-Food
  • Tourism

Regular and meaningful engagement between Welsh Ministers, CJCs and local government Leaders is crucial if we are to support CJCs to realise the potential of a strategic regional approach that promotes economic well-being, connected communities, strengthened planning arrangements and net zero ambitions. 

Together we commit to:

• collective quarterly discussions between relevant Welsh Ministers and the Chairs and Vice Chairs of CJCs
• regular discussions between relevant Welsh Ministers and all council Leaders collectively and individually as appropriate
• maximising the benefit of established formal mechanisms such as the Partnership Council for Wales and the productive relationship with the WLGA