Shake-up of councils to be revealed

20 January 2014 Last updated at 06:52 GMT

Williams Commission report: Welsh councils await shake-up details

Refuse collection is an important council service

Details of a report expected to recommend cutting the number of Welsh councils are due to be revealed.

The Williams Commission is likely to recommend reducing the current 22 councils to 12 or fewer.

It is understood the commission will suggest re-organisation through mergers using existing council boundaries rather than drawing up new ones.

Opposition AMs say they are concerned about the potential costs and loss of local identity in some areas of Wales.

The report, by former NHS Wales chief executive Paul Williams, is expected to consider how many areas of public services can be improved and made more accountable.

Most attention is likely to be focused on the recommendations for local authorities, last re-organised two decades ago.

The report is understood to recommend that the new councils should be within current health board and police force areas and also not cross the geographical areas governing eligibility for EU aid.

In an interview for the BBC's Sunday Politics Wales programme, First Minister Carwyn Jones said the existing number of 22 local authorities was "too many".

"We have, at the last count, six local authorities who are in special measures with regard to education out of 22," he said.

There are concerns that if councils such as Pembrokeshire disappear local identity could be lost

"Now that's not sustainable in the future so we need to have a very hard, long and honest look at the structure of not just local government but all public services in Wales to make sure that the structure is far more sustainable and stronger in the future."

Conservative AM for Monmouth Nick Ramsay told the programme Welsh ministers should not "rush headlong" into a reorganisation that may not bring the improvements people expected but would cost money.

"It could also wipe off the map some areas of Wales which people identify with - we've got to be careful, people have a sense of identity - don't mess with that," he said.

In a newsletter to constituents, Conservative Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb expressed fears that Pembrokeshire County Council would disappear.

"Local people fought hard to get Pembrokeshire back from the old Dyfed authority, and the case for having our own local authority is as valid now as it was then," he said.

'Objective evidence'

In its submission to the commission the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) - which represents local authorities in Wales - estimated the shake-up could cut 15,000 jobs, in addition to job losses that would result from budget cuts.

22 councils are currently responsible for services such as rubbish collection

WLGA-commissioned research by accountants Deloitte indicated the cost of the changes was likely to be more than £200m.

Plaid Cymru local government spokesman Rhodri Glyn Thomas said the party would support re-organisation if there was a case made for it "based on independent, objective evidence".

"We have to look at what can be delivered nationally, what can be delivered regionally and what can be delivered locally, and then, when you look at the delivery of those services, the structures fall into place."

Liberal Democrats want the voting system for local elections changed as part of any shake-up, but they insist the cost of the changes must be kept "under control" and the quality of services not threatened.

The party's local government spokesman Peter Black said: "I'm prepared to support re-organisation if we get it right, and that means having councils which are representative, with a fair voting system, so that the outcome of elections are reflected in the way councils are elected."