MINISTER Leighton Andrews said his aim was to “drive down the cost of politics in local government" after unveiling a shake-up which would see  Newport merge with Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Caerphilly.

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 is whether there should be two or three councils in North Wales, although ministers stressed there would be a public consultation this autumn before any final decisions.

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

Public services minister Leighton Andrews said his aim was to “drive down the cost of politics and administration in local government.”

Some unpopular proposals for council reform have been dropped, including the term limit of 25 years for councillors and 10 years for council leaders.

Outlining plans in the Senedd yesterday, Mr Andrews said he was swayed to merge the old Gwent counties because they fell broadly in the same area as that covered by the Aneurin Bevan Health Board and Gwent Police.

He said he had “very seriously” considered a proposal from Alun Davies AM that Monmouthshire, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent could merge, but said that would have meant Newport merging with Caerphilly which he did not think was a sustainable option.

He added: “Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire have all been in special measures in education. Sustainability is about the capacity to deliver public services and I have not been persuaded that that model could work.

“[Council reforms in the mid 1990s] created a number of very small authorities, many of which lack capacity and have had to be given additional support from the Welsh Government.”

Questioned by AMs he said reform was necessary, pointing out there are already job losses within local councils driven by nationwide budget cuts.

He stressed people would have more opportunity to have their say on the plans, adding that all 22 councils and more than 200 community councils had responded to an initial consultation.

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 new buildings.

Specific detail such as the role of community councils and regions with city status would be a continuing conversation, Mr Andrews said, adding: “In respect of council tax, it’s possible to maintain separate council tax rates within a particular local authority.”

Defending the plans, he said: “The current structure is failing to deliver quality services across Wales, with education services still in special measures in several authorities in Wales. Some authorities are simply too small to survive. The current system is costing council tax-payers millions on duplicated administrative services – as KPMG said last week, £151 million a year could be saved if all councils were as efficient as the best. We cannot go on as we are.”

KEY FACTS:

Population:

Blaenau Gwent: 69,800 people

Caerphilly: 179,200 people

Monmouthshire: 92,100 people

Newport: 146,000 people

Torfaen: 91,400 people [Statistics from ONS]

Potential combined population: 578,500 (over half a million people)

2015/16 estimated budget

Blaenau Gwent: £138,409,075

Caerphilly: £325,613,000

Monmouthshire: £150,917,000

Newport: £261,371,000

Torfaen: £166,447,874

A possible combined budget for ‘Super Gwent’: £1,042,757,947 (over a billion pounds)