Original story published on South Wales Argus online, available at: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/16188417.Cross_party_opposition_t…

PLANS which could see the number of councils in Wales cut from 22 to 10 have been criticised by AMs of all parties.

The revamped plan, which could see Newport and Caerphilly merged into a single authority, and Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire into another, was unveiled by the Welsh Government's local government and public services secretary Alun Davies last month.

And AMs debated the plans in the Assembly on Wednesday, where Aberconwy's Janet Finch-Saunders called the plan "written-on-the-back-of-a-fag-packet proposals".

"It's a fundamental betrayal of all of those who work in our public services across Wales," she said.

"They're all hungry, they're all anxious and they're all keen to work with you (Mr Davies) to actually see a radical reform."

The Conservative AM added: "Time is running out, cabinet secretary, for this government - your Welsh Labour Government - to future-proof our public services across Wales.

"You are in a privileged position, with the population of Wales depending on this Welsh Government to get it right this time.

"You have the levers, you have the power and you have the resources to achieve a fundamental ambition, a fundamental reform of our public services across Wales, working with them, not against them, and working throughout all of these sectors."

And Torfaen's Lynne Neagle said she believed reorganising councils during a period of austerity and with Brexit on the horizon would be "a disaster".

"The bleak truth is that, without an end to austerity, public services as we know them are under threat," she said. "This is understandably a difficult thing for a Labour government that cares about these services to face up to, but pretending that changing the number of councils will avoid that difficult truth is sticking our heads in the sand."

The Labour AM added she believed the potential financial benefits of the plan were "in danger of being overstated".

"Whether you have eight, 10, 12 or 22 councils, they still have to educate the same number of children in the same number of schools, collect the same number of bins and care for the same number of vulnerable people," she said.

And Ukip's Gareth Bennett said: "This whole saga has created a lot of uncertainty among the staff who work in local government. In some cases, it can lead to a kind of paralysis, whereby councils can't really plan on a major scale as they have no idea whether they will still exist in a few years' time, and it can also make officer recruitment difficult."

Responding to the debate, Mr Davies said: "We don't wish, of course, to impose. We wish to reach agreement."

And he added: "It isn't good enough for any member on any side of the chamber here today simply to stand up and make a speech telling us what they oppose and what they don't like.

"We are not paid to tell people what we don't like. We are not paid to tell people about the problems they already know about.

"We are paid here to find solutions to those problems, to find solutions to the difficulties that people face."

AMs ultimately rejected a Conservative motion criticising the plans and instead voted in favour of a Welsh Government motion noting the current structure of local government in Wales is "not sustainable".

A consultation has been launched on the proposal.

Three possible paths are being looked at - the first would see councils able to merge voluntarily or come forward with alternative proposals. The second would see some mergers take place in 2022, and the rest in 2026, while the third would see all mergers go ahead in 2022.

The proposals would also see Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan merged into a single authority, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil into another and Swansea and Neath Port Talbot into a third.

Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire would also be merged, as would Flintshire and Wrexham, Conwy and Denbighshire and the Isle of Anglesey and Gwynedd.

Only Powys would remain a single council area.

Take part in the consultation, which will run until June 12, at tinyurl.com/y93rbj2g

Original story published on South Wales Argus online, available at: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/16188417.Cross_party_opposition_t…