The announcement that Labour’s Welsh Government has once again abandoned its plans to merge County Councils has been welcomed by Plaid Cymru in Denbighshire.
The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Local Government announced at last week’s Welsh Local Government Conference that he was “happy to withdraw the map” and that there would be no reorganisation.
Denbighshire County Council has already stated its opposition to the proposed reorganisation.
Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Arwel Roberts said: “This is the fourth time that this Labour Government have tried to reorganise our Local Authorities. In each case much time and limited resources have been wasted on discussing these proposals. We argued against these plans because it would have meant that Councillors were more distant from the people we are elected to represent and therefore less answerable. We believe in democracy and bringing it down to the most appropriate level. We believe that we should be answerable and approachable. Making larger counties only serves to make democracy more distant.
“We weren’t convinced by the argument that such mergers would have saved money either. The upfront cost of creating a new authority is costly in itself. They need to think their plans through clearly and work with us if they want to achieve a something worthwhile and lasting.
“If the Labour Government were serious about resolving problems within our Councils then they would start by providing us with the funding we need to maintain our services, instead of the cuts that Councils have had to face. These cuts have hurt people across Denbighshire. It’s time that Labour provided us with enough money to run our public services.”
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