UPDATE: Newport to merge with Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Caerphilly in new plans

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has said her party's proposals for the future shape of local government are driven by the need to improve accountability and public service delivery.

She added that ensuring provision for health care services to be integrated with social services alongside greater democratic accountability were crucial points for Plaid Cymru.

The Party of Wales leader Leanne Wood said: “Plaid Cymru’s proposals are about more than lines on maps. Our focus is on improving democratic accountability, ensuring we streamline public service delivery and protect our precious public services in an uncertain financial climate.

“Public service reform should be done properly. If rushed it will be botched. Plaid Cymru’s proposals promote stability and accountability, and would see local authorities become the constituents of Regional Combined Authorities. No extra councillors or officials would be needed, in fact, we envisage a reduction in personnel costs over time. Local authorities must also be more representative of how people vote, and Plaid Cymru will improve democratic accountability by introducing a fairer electoral system through STV.

“The status quo is not an option. Existing regional models of delivering services need to be formalised and made accountable. This is a great opportunity to ensure a structure that delivers high quality services in the best way possible for people in all communities in Wales.”

UPDATE: 2.29pm

Larger councils could alienate residents without voting reform, the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) Cymru said. They claimed a proportional voting system such as the Single Transferable Vote (STV) used in Scotland was necessary to ensure a local voice and good scrutiny.

Steve Brooks, Director of ERS Cymru said: “We all know how local communities often feel marginalised at council. People at the heads of the Valleys will complain that the lower valleys are gaining at their expense, inner cities may feel excluded compared with suburbs, People in rural areas may complain that towns are getting everything, and vice-versa.

He added: “Due to artificial majorities, councils can often become mini one-party states. We know that this is less likely to lead to good decision making for the people they serve. Fostering proper debate through fair representation of different parties and opinions is vital so that the council chamber can act as a proper watchdog over decisions made by Council Leaders.

“In the 2012 council elections in Wales, 99 seats were uncontested and over 140,000 voters were denied a choice of who would represent them. Scotland used to have the same problem. However, since the introduction of STV in 2008 for Scottish local elections there have been no uncontested seats at all.”

UPDATE: 12.42

Torfaen council leader as well as leader of the Welsh Local Government Association Bob Wellington CBE said: “We call on the Welsh Government today to work closely with the WLGA and hold an urgent summit of the 22 council leaders and senior ministers, to discuss the future of local government in Wales. This summit could debate the way forward in terms of structures, but more importantly set in place a new vision for local government which is currently at the epi centre of public sector funding cuts and is having to carry a disproportionate share of the huge austerity burden.

“The sustainability of authorities in Wales is in question over the next three years and it is time to examine all options for reforming public services across the board. This means looking at greater integration of health and social care, freeing up authorities from Government bureaucracy and regulation and also empowering local communities through their councils.”

UPDATE: 12.40

Ahead of its annual conference in Swansea tomorrow, the Welsh Local Government Association has claimed the proposals add to the "compendium of maps and options" set out in the Williams report commissioned to look into reform, but do not provide additional clarity or certainty. 

A spokesman said: "While there is widespread acceptance that the Welsh public sector needs to be radically transformed, there appears to be no political consensus on the form that any change should take, particularly across the parties in the National Assembly.  There is also no consensus between the Welsh Government and local government on the future shape of local councils.

"In the absence of any agreement, nothing will now happen before the National Assembly elections in May 2016 and much will depend on what is contained in the party election manifestos.  Even if there is a commitment to reorganise on the part of the next Welsh Government, it will not be implemented until 2020 at the earliest, and so the disruption, distraction and uncertainty for service users and the local government workforce is set to continue. 

"In the meantime, local councils face an uncertain future and will have to deal with five more years of austerity, and the challenge of sustaining high quality services against a back-drop of continuing public spending cuts. 

"Considerable concern also remains as the map offers no further assurances for council tax payers in Wales, whose bills could rise dramatically in the absence of any clear approach to the key issue of council tax harmonisation."

UPDDATE: 12.28

Monmouthshire Council leader Peter Fox said: “It is evident to all involved that the process of local government reorganisation in Wales is mired in political disagreement both across and within parties. Today’s map is essentially little more than a sneak preview of next year’s Labour Party manifesto for the Assembly Elections. Ultimately, it offers nothing more than a dusted-off map from the 90’s that will do little to answer the pressing and current day challenges faced by local councils in Wales. 

“It is the view of the Conservative Group in the WLGA that the process should now be abandoned. Instead we should concentrate all our energies in dealing with reducing budgets and transforming the way we deliver services.  The focus in Wales should be on improving and encouraging economic growth, creating opportunities for all and not on rearranging the deck-chairs on the political stage.

“The idea that “big is beautiful” has been shown across the Welsh public sector to be flawed in theory and practice. People want efficient and well managed local government that is held accountable at a local level and empowered to fully inform decision making.  We want to see localism at the heart of Welsh public services, not huge bureaucracies distant from the point of service delivery.”

UPDATE 11.43

Blaenau Gwent politicians strongly criticised the proposals.

Council leader Hedley McCarthy said: “I remember that the old Gwent did little for those of us who live in the north of the county. For 200 years we have seen wealth, power and influence move south. Today the Welsh Government is signalling that it is content for this process to continue into the new century. It appears that we are to be the periphery of a new mega-council which will be distant and remote from the people it is supposed to serve.”

Blaenau Gwent Labour AM and former natural resources minister Alun Davies said: “I am very disappointed with this proposal. We need political authority based in the heads of the valleys to focus on creating work, tackling poverty and delivering services. I can see nothing in this proposal that will improve these things in Blaenau Gwent and much that will potentially lead to a loss of focus on the challenges facing us as a borough. I have worked hard to seek alternatives that will benefit people in the north of Gwent but it appears that the Government simply aren’t willing to listen.

“Simply issuing dictacts from Cardiff Bay is the worst way to promote debate and discussion.”

The council’s deputy leader Steve Thomas said: “The County Borough Council is our biggest employer. Any proposal that removes political authority from the heads of the valleys will inevitably lead to a loss of confidence that we will be able to maintain the current level of services. We have worked hard over the last few years to make the improvements that the Welsh Government and auditors have sought. We have fully cooperated with the Government on a programme of significant change in Blaenau Gwent which is improving the way that the Council performs. The Council has demonstrated its commitment to change by submitting a voluntary Expression of Interest to merge with Torfaen, unfortunately this was not supported by Welsh Government.”

UPDATE: 11.33

Iestyn Davies, from the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, said: "We remain concerned that the economic development role of local authorities is in danger of being sidelined in this debate.

“The future role for councils when it comes to economic development is simply too important to ignore and we need to think carefully about what role we want local authorities to play when it comes to fostering economic development in our communities in the years to come.

“There is a strong argument for giving local authorities greater powers to deal with the particular economic circumstances of their communities. We should define the role we want councils to perform when it comes to economic development before we decide what map best meets those needs.”

UPDATE: 11.31:

A spokeswoman for Newport City Council said: "We have always been clear that we are not against collaboration with other councils or organisations where it would benefit residents but we do want Newport to retain its own identity.

"We will consider these latest proposals carefully and will respond in due course. We expect the Welsh Government will be holding full and detailed discussions with all councils in the near future."

UPDATE: 11.14

Labour cllr for Rogerstone Chris Evans said reform was necessary: "Just think of the saving we’ll make on Chief Executive salaries alone - five cut to one, a real saving of several hundreds of thousands of pounds."

He said: "I think it’s time to show some real leadership, to embrace and lead change. Everyone agrees the status quo isn’t a option. The current system doesn't serve the people well anyway - read the recent Welsh Audit Office reports. As  I’ve often said, reform of the way our council is run and budget restraints are linked. To separate the two is to miss a opportunity to protect the services we all value."

UPDATE: 10.59

South Wales East Am William Graham, a former Gwent County and Newport Tory councillor, expressed surprise at plans for 'Labour domination of the new council structure for Wales'. He said: “The old County Councils were remote and unresponsive even under the cabinet system. Councillors are likely to be full time with large electorates denying a true local democracy.

"What will happen to city status and the future of community councils – perhaps a greater role?”

UPDATE: 10.25am

Peter Black AM, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Local Government Minister, said:

“Shoving together existing councils in a botched party-political stitch-up serves no-one aside from the Labour party and their quest to cement their position in Wales and hoard power in Cardiff Bay.

“The whole point of setting up an independent Williams commission was to remove party political influence from this process, and avoid gerrymandered maps like the ones presented to us today.

“If we’re going to have sustainable reform that lasts more than 20 years, unlike the previous two reorganisations, then we need to start from scratch. Give the independent Boundary Commission the task of coming up with a fresh map which actually works, instead of using the same old tired building blocks.

UPDATE: 9.05am

NEWPORT Council would merge with Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Caerphilly under plans unveiled today by the Welsh Government.

The long awaited ‘map’ of the local government shake-up sees the number of authorities cut from 12 to single figures.

Public services minister Leighton Andrews has offered two alternative maps, one with eight councils and one with nine. Both will see something similar to the old ‘Gwent’ county re-emerge in the form of a large authority in South East Wales, formed from five councils.

The only area currently up for debate it seems is whether there should be two or three councils in North Wales.

If Labour return to power in the 2016 Assembly elections, these will be the plans they want to take forward.

Ministers stressed there would be a public consultation before any definite decisions.

First minister Carwyn Jones said it would be for other parties to come up with their alternatives if elected. So far Plaid Cymru is the one party to offer their suggestion, which would see the 22 councils remain but with services shared between councils in regional consortia.

Public services minister Leighton Andrews said: “The case for fewer local authorities in Wales is compelling and widely accepted. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to reform and reshape our councils to drive funding into improving frontline services. We will drive down the cost of politics and administration in local government.”

HAVE YOUR SAY

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Some unpopular proposals for council reform have been dropped, including the term limit of 25 years for councillors, the ban of officers standing for election in thier own authority and the phasing of local government elections.

The plans are set to cause shockwaves around the country.

Monmouthshire council leader Peter Fox tweeted: “Local government reorganisation will be a massive, unsettling and costly distraction from the real issues we all face of trying to preserve local services.”

He added that he was angry he learned about the mergers in the media, rather than from the Welsh Government.

“I believe in some reform yes but this is the wrong debate to have now. Mergers will take the focus away from the bigger picture. Councils will turn inward for years as they wrestle with the cost and complexity of merging.”

And Newport Conservative Cllr Matthew Evans said: “Local government isn't perfect but reorganisation is an unwelcome and costly distraction. The Welsh Government should sort themselves out first.”

One of the biggest questions is set to be where the new council headquarters will be based in the new council dubbed ‘super Gwent’.

Newport will be the largest population centre, but Caerphilly and Monmouthshire have both invested recently in costly new buildings.