Caerphilly County Borough Council has rejected proposals to merge with Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen county borough councils.
Members of the local authority’s Cabinet will make a recommendation that it “stands alone” as part of any future plans to merge local authorities in Wales.
The council’s Cabinet had been asked to provide their views on proposals put forward by the Williams Commission report, which outlined plans to merge some of Wales’ 22 councils.
However, at a meeting of Cabinet on Wednesday September 3, councillors were in unanimous agreement that any merger would be a “step backwards”, and that there were “few, if any, tangible benefits to the residents of Caerphilly County Borough”.
A report presented to Cabinet raised a number of concerns over the merger proposals for local authorities, and the implications for Caerphilly, put forward by the Williams Commission report.
Cllr Keith Reynolds, Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, said: “Here in Caerphilly we have an excellent track record of delivering services and being a well run authority that is financially very well managed. This is evidenced by the results of the Welsh Government’s recent National Survey for Wales, which highlights that residents are pleased with the standards of the services we deliver. We have managed to deal with any emergencies that have arisen and overall we’re in a very strong position to be able to stand-alone.
“We want to send a strong message to everyone that this Cabinet’s overriding view is that we will be looking for the authority to press the case to Welsh Government for a stand-alone solution as far as this authority is concerned.”
Full Council will now discuss Cabinet’s recommendations on the report on Monday September 29 in order for the council to provide a thorough response to the proposals set out in the white paper.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are currently consulting on proposals for reforming local government. While merging councils is part of those proposals, so too is the need to strengthen democracy, improve scrutiny and use good performance information to create effective and improving local services.
“We look forward to receiving the council’s formal response to the consultation in due course.”
I dont think they’ll have a say whether the merger will go ahead or not. Time to revert to the old county system. And before people have a pop at me,I grew up in Berkshire which was split into unitary authorities.
I agree with Mark O’Neill that the county system, along with the urban district councils was better. I do think the council has made the right decision, there are no advantages to merging Caerffili with Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent and many negatives.
I have a nasty feeling that the useless Welsh Assembly may not see things this way and force these changes upon us.
Considering the inability of CCBC to function properly, spend money wisely, handle a pay scandal, operate efficiently, and make financially sound decisions all whilst expertly squandering public money, could the merger possibly make it worse? Heck, the merger will allow for hundreds of job cuts in the council saving £££’s.
Dean, you know my views on pay levels, operational efficiency of the council, etc as I do comment on these,from time to time, in this on-line paper. I actually do think a merger could make things worse.
I base this on the re-organistion in 1973. It is an open secret that this merger left much duplication of roles within the new authorities. Far from there being “hundreds of job cuts”, as you propose, a cosy agreement was made between the authorities and the unions that there would be workers that ‘worked without enthusiasm’. This did not mean that they could not be bothered to work but that it was recognised there was insufficient work.
A family member of mine, who is an accountant, worked for our local authority for a short time before moving on as she simply did not have to occupy her time after being used to a much greater workload in the private sector.
A merger will not save money, quite the reverse. If the Chief Executive of CCBC believes he is worth £142,000 per annum plus perks the Chief Executive of a larger authority must, quite logically, believe he is worth even more. To expect the culture to change with the borders of the local authority is, to me, pie in the sky. This is why I support the cabinet decision to try and keep things as they are.
Caerphilly Council rejects a merger……no surprise there then, they’re covering their own backs not thinking of what Wales needs, and what Wales doesn’t need are 22 councils for a population of 3 million. They can stop quoting meaningless statistics from The National Survey for Wales as less than 1% of the population actually took part in this minority report, and they were probably all Welsh council employees. Caerphilly Council couldn’t deliver pizza’s let alone efficient high standard services, their latest road surfacing farce is no success they tar and feather perfectly good roads not the ones that actually are in need of resurfacing….traffic lights near Peters Pies has more craters than the moon.
Why would anyone, particularly people elected for a short period to serve as a councillor, paid many thousands of pounds a year for the privilage, and have generous pension contibutions made for them by the Caerphilly Ratepayers, vote to end it all. The fact is that the `magnificent seven`, who made this decision on behalf of all Caerphilly ratepayers do not know, which, if any of them, would not have an abrupt halt made to their lucrative civic careers, why on earth would they vote for that????
If however, anyone does not agree with them then that view must be expressed through the ballot box in the not too distant a future, and it could be said that any officer of the council who prepares reports on the pros and cons of merger,. advantages or disadvantages, may also have in the forefront of their minds the loss of their jobs should mergers go ahead, not exactly subjective considerations I think, and therefore are the decisions based on such reports flawed?, but, who can blame them for trying to protect their own jobs.
Hi Trefor I voted for the merger and I’m a supporter of the Williams Report. We need less fragmentation in Wales and since I qualified out of University and been able to make a basic assessment the problem is too many local authorities of standing in the way of streamlining decent public services.
An example: ABHB has to work with 5 gwent authorities, 5 heads of social service, 10 deputy heads, 5 scrutiny committees and 5 cabinets. Can you imagine trying to work in partnership with that?
I accept that there will be job losses, but my analysis is that they’ll fall on middle to senior management. People with skills and ability to find new work quicker than any general worker.
I do agree with the Caerphilly cabinet that the county is capable and big enough to stand alone, yet I went to a lecture delivered by the Fabian Society last summer and the reason for mergers are valid.
As cilla would say: Surprise, Surprise!
Keith reynolds is unbelievable!
There has to be mergers, as someone said 22 councils is a ridiculous number to have in such a small country. I can also see a benefit in the number of senior positions across Wales being cut.
The irony of all this is that all councils bleat about cross-border co-operation, bodies like the South Wales Consortium with fancy offices in Nantgarw is an educational cross border body covering some 5 councils. Surely these bodies making decisions removes some direct democratic control from individual councillors at the expense of the mass?
All eyes might be on Scotland, but in Cardiff Bay at least politics is going on as normal.
Leighton Andrews returns to the Front Line of Welsh Politics in cabinet reshuffle which sees Jeff Cuthbert no longer serving in the new cabinet, he has also stated he is leaving font line politics.
This was a major reshuffle with one main objective – bring
back one of Welsh Labour’s big beasts to the front-line, and send a
signal to local councils that the Welsh government is serious about
forcing them to merge. (Welsh Assembly Words, Not mine), so what hope the decision of the magnificent
seven?????