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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Council merger plans rejected by minister | Council merger plans rejected by minister |
| (23 minutes later) | |
| Voluntary merger plans by six Welsh councils have been rejected by the public services minister. | Voluntary merger plans by six Welsh councils have been rejected by the public services minister. |
| The Williams Commission had called for the 22 councils to be cut by half. | The Williams Commission had called for the 22 councils to be cut by half. |
| Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan, and Conwy and Denbighshire had suggested pairing up in response to an appeal for voluntary mergers by Leighton Andrews. | |
| However the minister said he was "not persuaded" that the councils had set out a "compelling vision" for merger. | |
| In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Andrews said: "I am disappointed to report that on the basis of this assessment I am not persuaded that any one of these Expressions of Interest sufficiently meets the criteria for moving ahead to prepare a full Voluntary Merger Proposal." | |
| He emphasised the need for councils' merger proposals to set out a "compelling vision" and provide assurances that the new authorities would "reduce complexity" and increase the "coherence" of public services. | |
| 'Hell bent' | |
| Vale of Glamorgan council leader Neil Moore said he was "deeply saddened" that the plan to merge with Bridgend had been rejected. | |
| Conservative shadow local government minister Janet Finch-Saunders called the "astounding" development "another symptom of Labour's haphazard, uncertain approach to managing local government in Wales". | |
| Liberal Democrat spokesman Peter Black said Labour seemed "hell bent on ignoring local democracy and ploughing ahead with their preferred combinations at all costs". | |
| A bill paving the way for voluntary council mergers was published by Mr Andrews on Monday. |