By Suzanne Cumberbatch The threat of reorganisation and a radical reduction in the number of Welsh councils has been left hanging over the principality’s local government establishment. In his report into the Welsh local government system, Sir Jeremy Beecham gave councils five years to prove their collaborative working initiatives, outlined in Making the connections, were the answer to service delivery, or face more radical options. Speaking at the launch of the report, Beyond boundaries, Sir Jeremy poured scorn on rumours that the review team had been ‘warned off’ talking about reorganisation by the Welsh Assembly Government. But, although the report pushes for no current wholescale restructure, Sir Jeremy refused to rule out future reorganisation. ‘The report calls for a greater collaborative approach. At present, there seems a desire for this to succeed, but this will have to be reviewed in time,’ he told The MJ. ‘If this fails to work, there may be reorganisation, or there could be a call for a more centralised leadership role. We cannot rule reorganisation out.’ Sir Jeremy’s comments echoed the sentiments of local government minister, Sue Essex, who indicated that four regional partnership boards could avoid the need for restructure, although she failed to rule it out (The MJ, 2 February 2006). And Welsh secretary, Peter Hain, also poured coals on the fire of the reorganisation debate when he told The MJ there were ‘too many small councils in Wales which aren’t really viable’ (The MJ, 30 3 2006). Other key themes of the report include more ambitious leadership, strengthening the focus on the citizen, downsizing inspection and regulation, and the introduction of a Wales-wide performance assessment. s.cumberbatch@hgluk.com
