Dr Altaf Hussain, Welsh Conservative AM for South Wales West, has described plans by Local Government Minister Leighton Andrews to re-draw the map of local government in Wales as 'flimsy' and a 'recipe for chaos', and says that the people affected by the proposals 'should have the final say'.
The proposals, if they go ahead, would reduce the number of Local Authorities in Wales to eight or nine - and according to the Minister would save around £650 million over a ten year period. The changes are likely to see Swansea City and County merge with Neath and Port Talbot, creating a Council that would cover an area very similar to the old 'West Glamorgan'. Bridgend is likely to merge with Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil thus re-creating the old County of 'Mid Glamorgan'.
Dr Hussain, who represents all of the wards that would be affected in South West Wales said "I am struggling to understand how the Minister arrives at the figure of £650 million. Given the substantial upfront costs involved in any reorganisation, he has to make a robust case to the taxpayer that this will deliver real value. Otherwise, the plans simply look flimsy and a recipe for chaos - as we saw when our last set of NHS health board reorganisations delivered a huge deficit. I am particularly concerned as to whether the costs of the redundancies that this figure is likely to be based upon has been properly calculated - this is something that is already putting Councils under strain.
"My personal view is that where Councils can work together, share services and save money they have my backing – but only with the consent of local people. It should be for those represented to have the final say - let the public decide in a referendum. I am all for cutting the cost of government, but the mergers are something that all voters should have the chance for a direct say on".