The costs of mer proposals should covered, says MP

THE costs incurred by councils in preparing merger proposals should be covered by the Welsh Government following Leighton Andrews’ rejection of the bids, says an MP.

Councillors from Conwy and Denbighshire also reacted angrily to the Welsh Government minister’s decision to reject a proposed merger of the two councils, as well as proposed mergers in the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend, and in Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen.

Mr Andrews, the Welsh Government’s public services minister, said the councils’ proposals did not meet Welsh Government criteria.

He questioned the robustness of Conwy and Denbighshire’s expression of interest, and said the councils needed to do “significant extra work”.

Following the announcement, Aberconwy MP Guto Bebb tweeted: “Any costs incurred by @ConwyCBC in preparing merger proposals should be met by @ WelshGovernment. It’s their incompetence.”

He said: “I have never been particularly enamoured with merging Conwy and Denbighshire.

“However, I fully accept the councils did the only thing they could do, which was to investigate the possibility based on the Williams report.

“I am pretty astounded that, for reasons of which we are unaware, the Assembly seems to have rejected the proposal out of hand.”

Mr Bebb raised concerns about the cost of the failed proposal at a time of economic hardship for local authorities.

He said: “Conwy council is looking at a 5% council tax increase, and senior officers have put in hundreds of hours on this proposal. “It’s a half-baked idea. “If the Welsh Government demands action from local authorities without thinking through the consequences, the councils should be compensated for the cost.”

Cllr Goronwy Edwards, a former leader of Conwy council, said: “I’m amazed by the arrogance shown by the minister and his government.

“Hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds of ratepayers’ money has been spent in public consultation about this report over recent years.”

In an open letter to Mr Andrews, Denbighshire Cllr Stuart A Davies said: “His officials worked with ours at a not insignificant cost. He has ignored that and cancelled the whole thing.”

A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “The Welsh Government made clear in the prospectus that it would be a matter for each council to resource the preparation of its expression of interest.

“The Minister said he would be writing to leaders shortly to set out his reasons for each decision.”