Implementing the
Williams Commission local government reforms will be one of the
stories dominating the rest of the Fourth Assembly, and will play a
big role in determining if the Welsh Government have truly delivered
this term.
Back in June, the former Local Government Minister, Lesley Griffiths (Lab, Wrexham), said that the proposed reforms "had to deliver profound change". The First Minister himself has spoken quite strongly in favour of mergers (down to between 10 and 12 councils from the current 22) as soon as practically possible.
It's clear though that with a few exceptions – like Denbighsire and Conwy, which are actively exploring a voluntary merger – the proposals have received a frosty reception from the Welsh local government sector. Clearly one of the major concerns are the proposed upfront costs of the reforms; the Williams Commission put the figure at £100million (saving £60-80million per year afterwards), local government put it at £200million with a potential 15,000 job losses.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) – the body that represents local authorities – recently upped the ante by producing their own discussion paper (pdf) and alternative plan.
What are the WLGA's concerns?
Firstly, that there's no political consensus on the way forward in the Assembly, and with up to £877million in savings needing to be found in total by 2018, an £80million per year saving is described as being "academic".
Secondly, they're worried there'll be a disconnect between the local and the regional. Some of the proposed new local authorities may be too large to provide smaller communities with a "connection" but too small to provide scale.
The Williams Commission weren't convinced by collaboration between local authorities. However, WLGA present evidence submitted by former adviser to Rhodri Morgan, Paul Griffiths, suggesting that it works for some local services (social care, school improvement), and that the threat of "collaborate or merge" has created a presumption in local government that mergers are inevitable, so collaboration was never properly explored.
The English Example
The WLGA cite the example of the Greater Manchester Authority (GMCA). It's a collaborative regional authority made up of ten metropolitan borough councils. Each member authority sends one member to the GMCA, contributes towards its running costs and the GMCA takes responsibility and control of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, as well as specific powers over things like economic development.
In Wales, we're attempting something similar through city regions. However, our city regions are essentially grand committees with no real teeth.
In England, the UK Government have proposed devolving "serious powers" over economic development, strategic planning, business rates collection, housing and training to the major cities and groups of counties. Both UK Labour and Conservatives are talking this up as a model of English devolution.
What do the WLGA propose for Wales?
Back in June, the former Local Government Minister, Lesley Griffiths (Lab, Wrexham), said that the proposed reforms "had to deliver profound change". The First Minister himself has spoken quite strongly in favour of mergers (down to between 10 and 12 councils from the current 22) as soon as practically possible.
It's clear though that with a few exceptions – like Denbighsire and Conwy, which are actively exploring a voluntary merger – the proposals have received a frosty reception from the Welsh local government sector. Clearly one of the major concerns are the proposed upfront costs of the reforms; the Williams Commission put the figure at £100million (saving £60-80million per year afterwards), local government put it at £200million with a potential 15,000 job losses.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) – the body that represents local authorities – recently upped the ante by producing their own discussion paper (pdf) and alternative plan.
What are the WLGA's concerns?
Firstly, that there's no political consensus on the way forward in the Assembly, and with up to £877million in savings needing to be found in total by 2018, an £80million per year saving is described as being "academic".
Secondly, they're worried there'll be a disconnect between the local and the regional. Some of the proposed new local authorities may be too large to provide smaller communities with a "connection" but too small to provide scale.
The Williams Commission weren't convinced by collaboration between local authorities. However, WLGA present evidence submitted by former adviser to Rhodri Morgan, Paul Griffiths, suggesting that it works for some local services (social care, school improvement), and that the threat of "collaborate or merge" has created a presumption in local government that mergers are inevitable, so collaboration was never properly explored.
The English Example
The WLGA cite the example of the Greater Manchester Authority (GMCA). It's a collaborative regional authority made up of ten metropolitan borough councils. Each member authority sends one member to the GMCA, contributes towards its running costs and the GMCA takes responsibility and control of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, as well as specific powers over things like economic development.
In Wales, we're attempting something similar through city regions. However, our city regions are essentially grand committees with no real teeth.
In England, the UK Government have proposed devolving "serious powers" over economic development, strategic planning, business rates collection, housing and training to the major cities and groups of counties. Both UK Labour and Conservatives are talking this up as a model of English devolution.
What do the WLGA propose for Wales?
 |
| A presumptive map of what the WLGA propose. (Click to enlarge) |
The
WLGA propose the creation of four collaborative regional bodies
:
- North Wales
- Mid & Central Wales (sic)
- South West Wales
- South East Wales
The map is presumptive and the WLGA don't specifically state which local authorities would be placed where. It's based off the collaborative boards the WLGA proposed back in 2005 and also pretty much falls in line with the regional transport consortia.
The WLGA propose that the regional bodies take responsibility for :
- Transport planning and delivery
- Strategic land use planning
- Economic development
- Regional tourism promotion
- School improvement
- Commissioning of health and social care services
- Waste processing and management
- IT services, payroll, pensions and back office/HR functions
They also propose that - supported by comments made by Prof. Gerald Holtham - taxes like stamp duty and landfill tax be "devolved" to these regional bodies.
They believe this would offer greater financial security for these services, a more strategic approach to service delivery and greater scale. The WLGA do, however, accept that redundancies would be inevitable but no figures are given. No figures for the set up costs are given either.
New primary legislation might be required from the National Assembly to make this happen. Or, the appropriate Welsh Minister might be able to make use of current executive powers to push the proposal through. In both cases it would likely require full Assembly approval.
When you get to the bits about how these regional would be governed, things begin to fall apart.
Based on the examples they give from England, the membership won't be elected, but appointed by the constituent local authorities. Some regional bodies in England include non-elected members, some have a "rotation" of appointed members, some have a membership that reflects the political make-up of the respective local authorities. So it'll be another board and committee for our wonderful local councillors to join.
A real alternative?
 |
| They say a good compromise is one that dissatisfies everyone equally. Are the Welsh Government going to listen to this, though? (Pic : Click on Wales) |
I've said it previously, but I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with a further compromise that leads to some local authorities remaining as-is - I don't think the 10-12 number is set in stone. Some mergers will clearly be easier to do than others, while some local authorities might have a different preferred merger partner than those outlined by the Williams Commission (Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan; Swansea & Neath Port Talbot etc.).
Also, *AWOOGA* THIS SOUNDS OH SO FAMILIAR! *AWOOGA* I'm only 18 months ahead of the curve here, but I'm just a blogger after all.
Of course, it's not identical to what I (and Lyn Thomas previously) have said. I envisaged regional government being a tier of government in itself – an unashamed return to two-tier local government.
This proposal is half-way there, makes a moderate amount of sense, and deserves to be considered and listened to. It might be too late though.
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