What with leadership battles coming within al but one of the five party assembly it seems that we have missed the news that Plans that could have seen councils forced to merge have been withdrawn by Local Government Secretary Alun Davies.
He is now the third Welsh Government minister to abandon plans to force the merger or councils'
One wonders how much this has cost?
Mr Davies has previously said the number of local authorities could be reduced from 22 to 10, publishing a map that showed details of possible mergers and warned council leaders: “Change or we will change you!”
The proposal contained theoption of the following councils merging together:
The Wasting Mule reports that
I took a different path and would create Super Councils to deal with areas like Health ,Education, Social Policy an possibly Policing. With powers devolved by the Assembly to enhance them.
Possibly using the existing Health Boards as template. Maybe if we rename the Assembly as Parliament they could be called Welsh Regional Assemblies.
We would the create 40-60 Councils which are a mixture of Community councils and the remaining powers of the exiting Councils who are not paid or have expenses of about £2000-5000 per anum.
It would cost more initially and is ambitious but at least its not the lazy back of a fag packet solution that Labour have spent over five years trying to push through.
He is now the third Welsh Government minister to abandon plans to force the merger or councils'
One wonders how much this has cost?
Mr Davies has previously said the number of local authorities could be reduced from 22 to 10, publishing a map that showed details of possible mergers and warned council leaders: “Change or we will change you!”
The proposal contained theoption of the following councils merging together:
- Anglesey and Gwynedd
- Conwy and Denbighshire
- Flintshire and Wrexham
- Powys
- Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire
- Swansea and Neath Port Talbot
- Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil
- Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff
- Newport and Caerphilly
- Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire
The Wasting Mule reports that
addressing the Welsh Local Government Association’s (WLGA’s) annual conference in Llandudno yesterday, he made it clear that any mergers would be voluntary.
He told the WLGA he wanted to "work together".
There was widespread opposition to forced mergers in local authorities.
Twenty out of 22 councils provided their response to Mr Davies’ Green Paper to the Conservatives’ Shadow Local Government Secretary Janet Finch-Saunders, with all but Swansea council expressing opposition to the merger proposals.
Vale of Glamorgan council said:
“The previous Cabinet Secretary [Mark Drakeford] promised 10 years of stability. This Cabinet Secretary has not provided 10 months’ worth.”Newport council said:
“The proposals represent a distraction from the challenge of delivering services, and meeting the needs of increasingly complex communities.”Monmouthshire council said: “The Green Paper is silent on the core issues which are at the heart of the debate.”
Caerphilly council said:
“We cannot see that a wholescale local government reorganisation is something that should be considered. The financial benefits are debatable at best.”Ynys Môn council said:
I asked how much this has cost because it seems the plans have been drawn up to save the cost of a root and branch reorganisation , they may well have done but after five years of Ministers pushing versions of this all have ended u in failure,“The First Minister needs to stick his Green Paper in the bin where it belongs.”
I took a different path and would create Super Councils to deal with areas like Health ,Education, Social Policy an possibly Policing. With powers devolved by the Assembly to enhance them.
Possibly using the existing Health Boards as template. Maybe if we rename the Assembly as Parliament they could be called Welsh Regional Assemblies.
We would the create 40-60 Councils which are a mixture of Community councils and the remaining powers of the exiting Councils who are not paid or have expenses of about £2000-5000 per anum.
It would cost more initially and is ambitious but at least its not the lazy back of a fag packet solution that Labour have spent over five years trying to push through.
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