Agenda item

To consider a report by the Chief Executive (copy enclosed) for Members to provide a strategic assessment of the options within the White Paper (Reforming Local Government).  A decision is requested on whether to submit an Expression of Interest to voluntarily merge with Conwy County Borough Council.

 

The Chief Executive presented the Reforming Local Government Report (previously circulated).

 

The White Paper – Reforming Local Government – had been published for consultation on 8 July 2014.  The consultation period was to close on 1 October, 2014 at 23:59.  The purpose of the report was to set out the main proposals within the White Paper, provide a strategic assessment of the options it presented for the council and request a decision on whether to submit an expression of interest to voluntarily merge with Conwy County Borough Council.  The expression of interest must be submitted by November 2014, and would require the agreement of Conwy County Borough Council.

 

The White Paper set out the necessary steps towards the merging of local authorities into larger, ‘more sustainable’ organisations.  It was proposed that members carefully consider the implications of this part of the paper and develop a response by the closing date of consultation, 1 October, 2014.

 

The White Paper identified, as its preferred option, a programme of local authority mergers that would reduce the current 22 local authorities to 12, with three in North Wales and Denbighshire merging with Conwy. 

 

The Welsh Government were unlikely to support any proposal that cut across current Health and Police boundaries and would not support proposals that changed existing local authority boundaries.

 

The White Paper was clear that there was insufficient time to develop, plan and legislate for a full programme of mergers before the next National Assembly elections in May 2016.  A Bill to merge authorities would not, therefore, be introduced to the National Assembly during the assembly term, which would end in April 2016.

 

A draft Bill would be published in the autumn of 2015 for consultation so that the elected Welsh Government in May 2016, would be in a position to make early decisions about whether and how to proceed.

 

Provision for early mergers would be included in legislation which would be introduced early in 2015.  A ‘Prospectus’ would be published by the summer of 2014 setting out the Welsh Governments incentives for voluntary mergers.  At the time of the meeting, the 'Prospectus’ had not been published.

 

The Chief Executive outlined to members, the timetable for mergers which had been outlined within the report.

 

There were two options to consider:

 

·       Option 1 – Wait for the Welsh Government election in May 2016; or

·       Option 2 – Voluntary merger with Conwy.

 

It seemed clear that waiting to see what would happen in May 2016 was, in fact, to accept that serious cuts to budgets and services would occur for at least the next six years, after which, the future would be an enforced merger.  Making severe cuts, for several years, followed by enforced merger, did not appear as a particularly good outcome for residents or the council.

 

The decision would not be a simple one and either option carried risks and costs.  On balance, the voluntary merger option was strategically better because it was a viable option for both councils, and it could offer the possibility of avoiding the worst of the cuts by a combination of securing a financial deal with Welsh Government and securing savings from the merger itself.  However, this option could only be considered if two conditions were satisfied:

 

·       That the financial and support package from Welsh Government would be substantial and binding; and

·       That once the two authorities and Welsh Government agreed the Statement of Intent in November 2015, that the agreement would be binding on all three parties.

 

If the conditions could be secured then that would allow both councils to reduce the level of cuts to services and avoid the possible failure of the project either because of local disagreements or change of position by Welsh Government.  If they could not be secured, then the risks of voluntary merger were too high.

 

In-depth discussion took place, during which the following points were raised:

 

·       There were, in total, 106 members between Denbighshire and Conwy.  Current legislation dictated there could not be more than 75 members to each local authority.  The figures equated to 1 member per every 1750 electors.  If this equation were to be applied to the prospective merged local authority that would be 96 members, 21 over the maximum figure.  The suggestion was made that if a merger were to go ahead then it would be imperative to have the electoral boundary assess the area as soon as practically possible

·       It was stressed by members that the priority for Denbighshire must be for its residents

·       BCUHB were to embark upon a change in their structure.  They were to do a rebalance of care from secondary to primary.  There were to be three structures together with Local Authorities:

Ø  Wrexham and Flintshire

Ø  Denbighshire and Conwy, and

Ø  Gwynedd and Anglesey

 

RESOLVED that:

 

·       Council agree that, subject to reaching agreement with Conwy County Council, both councils proceed to develop a joint expression of interest to voluntarily merge by April 2018 and to submit this expression of interest to Welsh Government by November 2014, provided the two councils can:

Ø  Secure a substantial financial and support package from Welsh Government that is binding, and

Ø  That once the two authorities and Welsh Government agree the statement of intent in November 2015 that the agreement is binding on all three partners

·       The ‘substantial financial and support package’ referred to will be negotiated with Welsh Government and put before both Denbighshire and Conwy members to consider before agreeing to proceed.