Caerphilly County Borough Council has re-asserted its stand-alone position in relation to council mergers.
At a meeting on November 18 the council rejected an approach from Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council to merge with them and have rejected a voluntary merger in a response to the Welsh Government.
A ruling Labour group spokesperson said the council agreed there was no interest to voluntarily merge with any other authority.
Councillors previously rejected proposals, set out in the Williams Commission report, to merge with Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent, who have since agreed to join forces.
Both Plaid Cymru and Labour groups believe to merge would not be in the interests of residents, despite the Local Government Minister saying the “reality is dawning” on councils to accept change.
Leighton Andrews AM told BBC Radio Wales on November 23: “There may be some people still in denial that local government reform is happening and who believe that they can stay on their own.
“The reality is dawning on people that there’s going to be significant change within local authorities.
“For some that has dawned earlier than others and some have been willing to embrace proposals for voluntary merger. I think in some cases there may well be parochial interests at work.”
Mr Andrews said councils would not be forced to merge until after the 2016 Assembly Election.
Well done ccbc.why should we merge with places that have worse problems than Caerphilly borough.
Both the Labour and Plaid groups are correct is rejecting the flawed merger proposals which will have a damaging effect on the prosperity of the people of Caerffili. This is not to say that I am against any form of reorganisation, I personally favour a reduction in the number of councils but this needs to take into account the history and infrastructure of the various communities in Wales.
I would use the ‘preserved counties’ as a starting point which would deliver eight councils instead of the current twenty two. The towns and villages of Caerffili, Llanbradach, Ystrad Mynach would be part of Glamorgan, Bedwas, Machen and Risca would be part of Monmouthshire.
Unfortunately I believe that this reorganisation has already been decided by the Welsh Assembly and our elected representatives in Ty Penallta will be pushed aside. Look forward, if that is the right terminology, to higher taxes and reduced services from your new local authority.
Why can’t you see what’s going on here?
Welsh Assembly: You must merge.
CCBC: No, we will not merge. It’s a bad decision
*Sums of money are passed to CCBC along with promises of promotions for Caerphilly AM’s.*
*CBBC accepts*
CCBC: The merger can work for us. Caerphilly is going places…