Cutting councils not the answer, insist leaders

CUTTING the number of councils in Wales would be unlikely to save money because authorities are already collaborating to ease cash pressures, a senior Welsh council leader has warned.

- RUTH MOSALSKI

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), which represents Wales’ 22 councils, met last week at its annual conference in Llandudno.

Ahead of that, some of its most senior members spoke about the challenges facing councils, and were asked if the long discussed topic of local government reorganisation remained on the table.

The current local government structure in Wales was established in 1996 and the debate about whether the number of councils needs to change has been ongoing for years since.

After the 2016 Assembly election, current Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford was given responsibility for councils and said, while 22 authorities could remain as the “front door” through which people would access key services, there would be an “enhanced level of mandatory and systematic regional working” with the aim of ensuring greater resilience and better planning and delivery of services regionally.

A year later, following a cabinet reshuffle, Alun Davies was appointed to the local government role and indicated he wanted to see 10 local authority areas.

However, he then rowed back and said he was no longer pursuing compulsory mergers, making him the third Welsh Government minister to abandon reorganisation plans.

However, the prospect is still being discussed in the Senedd.