Calls have been made for a “structured sector by sector” review to understand the Powys economy.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Economy Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Monday, November 7, Cllr Ian Harrison noted that there was little in the future meetings timetable to discuss developing the Powys economy.

Cllr Harrison said: “Can I ask the committee to do a structured review sector by sector of what’s going on in our economy.

“We might want to set up a working group just to consider the different elements of our economy.

“It’s such a vast area, we need to break it down into bite size chunks have a very critical review of which policies are working and which are not.”

Cabinet member for economic development, Cllr David Selby said: “The economy is almost everything we do in some way or another.

“I’m wondering whether the way of dealing with it is with a member development session that briefs all members on how the economy works.”

He explained that there were many different stands and links between the council, UK and Welsh Government that manifest in schemes or bodies such as the Mid-Wales Growth Deal, Shared Prosperity Fund and Business Wales.

Cllr Selby said: “At the day we can talk about the issues that affect the county and scrutiny may decide to home in on different areas for example tourism or agriculture.”

Committee chairwoman Cllr Angela Davies asked if Cllr Harrison would be happy with Cllr Selby’s suggestion?

Cllr Harrison said: “It seems to be a reasonable way forward.”

Cllr Harrison stressed the need to understand how resilient the Powys economy is following all the changes that have happened at UK and Welsh Government that have affected.

Cllr Harrison said: “I’d certainly be very interested to see what the background is and then it leads to the question, is Powys County Council doing enough in terms of its economic development planning?”

Cllr Selby told the committee he would talk to staff and start organising the event.