'Blueprint is not showing results' criticised the plan, claiming it projected; Plan to be discussed by forum as WAG strategy is slammed by chairman.

Byline: DAVID JONES

BUSINESS leaders in North Wales say that the Welsh Assembly Government's much-touted Spatial Plan has yet to deliver any discernible results for the region.

They say that while the plan has not, as far as they can tell, acted as a brake on economic development its usefulness has yet to be demonstrated.

The plan is meant to provide an overarching strategic guide for the development of Wales.

But North Wales Economic Forum chairman Roy Bichan said it was very difficult to see what the project was actually delivering.

"People in both the private and the public sector are struggling to find any use for the Spatial Plan or anything of value in it," said Dr Bichan. "I have not met a single person who has said 'We cannot live without this plan'."

He added: "The Assembly Government has been working on the Spatial Plan for five or six years, but now people are asking: 'What is being delivered?' " North Wales Forum chairman Forum members will be seeking some answers to that question from Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery Andrew Davies when he speaks at the group's next meeting in St Asaph next month.

Dr Bichan said the Forum was keen to engage with the Assembly Government in constructive discussion of the plan, but was yet to be persuaded of its long term worth.

"The Spatial Plan, in theory, is a good idea. It seeks to look at the dynamics of each region of Wales in terms of people, prosperity, the economy, industry and other factors and work out what each of those areas is most suited to in the future by way of additional investment.

Economic Roy Bichan "We hope that on November 19 Andrew Davies will be able to convince us that the plan is actually delivering something."

He said the precedence given by WAG to the plan had meant that a economic development review of North Wales commissioned by the Forum a few years ago had been pushed into the background.

That report had sought to look at the needs of the region as a whole, while the Spatial Plan had sought to divide North Wales into two geographic areas, albeit with "fuzzy boundaries", added Dr Bichan.

Gwyn Evans, Federation of Small Businesses North Wales regional chairman, said: "There are some good things in the Spatial Plan, but we have not seen any constructive way forward in implementing it. I do not think any of the six North Wales counties have acted on the delivery of this plan."

Forum member Tom Jones, representing the Wales TUC, has previously criticised the plan, claiming it projected an east-west divide in North Wales affairs, whereas he believed the Forum had been more intent on working to promote a unified approach to development across the region.

The Wales Spatial Plan was originally adopted by the National Assembly for Wales in November 2004 and has been revised and updateD since then. The broad 20-year agenda and overall role, purpose and principles of the plan are to make sure that decisions are taken with regard to their impact beyond the immediate sectoral or administrative boundaries, said WAG on its website.

It added that the plan is also meant to influence where money is spent by the Welsh Assembly Government through an understanding of the roles of and interactions between places and help develop policy and action in the private, public and third sectors.

The plan aims to deliver sustainable development through its area strategies and to provide a context for the application of national and regional policies for specific sectors, such as health, education, housing and the economy, reflecting the distinctive characteristics of different sub-regions. A range of stakeholders has been involved in the Spatial Plan's development and implementation, said WAG.

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North Wales Economic Forum chairman Roy Bichan