NEW plans to revamp councils across Wales and cut costs by authorities working together to deliver services have been revealed.

The previous version of the Local Government (Wales) Bill included plans to cut the number of councils in the country from 22 to just eight or nine - including a so-called Super Gwent encompassing Newport, Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Islwyn.

But the dramatic proposals failed to win support and, after Labour was left two seats short of a majority following May’s election, first minister Carwyn Jones conceded the plans would have to go back to the drawing board.

The Welsh Government’s new local government secretary Mark Drakeford today set out a new version of the plan, which would involve councils working together to run a range of services.

Although no mergers will be enforced, councils will be allowed to merge if they choose to do so.

Mr Drakeford, who took over responsibility for the plan from former local government secretary Leighton Andrews, the only Labour AM to lose his seat in May, said he had developed the revamped plans following discussion with all 22 councils in Wales, and would hold further meetings with authorities and other organisations in the next few months.

“Local government plays a vitally important part in the lives of every citizen in Wales,” he said.

“Councils provide the services which educate our children, look after our elderly, dispose of our waste and light our streets.

“They go on doing so, moreover, during what the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) has called ‘an extraordinary 10 or more years of retrenchment in public spending’.”

The leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, councillor Bob Wellington, welcomed the revamped plans.

“What is encouraging is that these proposals highlight how councils will remain embedded in their communities acting as the ‘front door’ through which people access a range of vitally important everyday services,” he said.

“In doing so the proposals outline a vision that keeps the ‘local’ in local democracy and local government, while also offering a coherent agenda for regional collaboration on key service areas.”

Saying he wanted the Welsh Government’s relationship with local authorities “to be built on trust”, Mr Drakeford also said he believed it was important changes were carried out soon.

“I am conscious local government has been through a period of extended uncertainty about its future and the corrosive impact this has on morale,” he said.

“It has been part of my aim in taking on responsibility for local government to resolve this uncertainty as soon as possible.”

He also said all councillors elected in council elections across Wales next May would serve a full five-year term until 2022.

“I am under no illusion about the challenge that lies ahead,” he said.

“We will work with local government and other stakeholders over the coming months to develop the detail of the approach.

“My approach throughout will be to work with other political parties in what I believe to be the shared ambition to secure a successful future for local government in Wales.

“Quite clearly, this cannot be developed and delivered by government alone, shared leadership, political and official is essential.”

To view the full plans visit gov.wales.