Issue - meetings

            In the interests of the provision of local government services within our County, this Council seeks an urgent meeting with both the Welsh Government Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Finance to discuss the availability of transitional finance, support and a long term funding strategy in order to assist the Council in its quest to protect Local Government services for our residents now and into the future in return for an early adoption merger of Flintshire County Council and Wrexham County Borough Council. 

The Chief Executive introduced the report to review the current consultation papers of Welsh Government on the reform of local government and the public services and to agree a formal Council response. 

He provided a detailed presentation on the Reform of Local Government and the Public Services, the main features of which were:-

·         Background

·         Current Situation

·         Welsh Government Proposals

·         Specific Challenges

·         The Benefits

·         Risks of Transition

·         What happens next

The Chief Executive gave a critique of the three papers and specifically the White Paper Reforming Local Government.  The White Paper built on the recommendation of the Public Services Commission which, in itself, had not presented a compelling and reassuring vision for the future role and value of local government and local governance. The White Paper did not answer the fundamental questions on the benefits of a local government reorganisation, the funding of transitional costs, the aspirations for localism, or a sustainable funding plan for local government for the future.  He commented on previous local government reorganisations which had not been well managed and had not always achieved their assumed benefits. Restrictions on mergers included not being able to break up existing councils and new councils not crossing health board boundaries.  The draft legislation proposed two routes for merger – voluntary and enforced.  The uncertainty caused by the White Paper was holding back ambition across councils for cost-saving collaborations. 

The Government’s emphasis was on councils choosing to merge and to manage the transition themselves.  The legislative process was complex and the timescales, including that for a boundary review, were ambitious and possibly unachievable.  Benefits might include the opportunity to make services more resilient and to save costs, and the possibility of negotiating a longer-term and more stable funding settlement with Welsh Government (WG) instead of the current annualised funding.  However, there were also risks of transition which included the costs, risks to service continuity and performance and distraction from service management.  A particular concern for Flintshire County Council would be how to plan to protect the services for local communities away from the major urban conurbations.

  The consultation period on the White Paper would end on 1 October 2014 and it was expected that the prospectus to guide potential ‘early adopters’ would be issued by Welsh Government in the next two weeks.  Expressions of interest would be invited by November with the full business case submitted by January 2015.

  The report also covered the Welsh Local Government Association’s (WLGA) parallel consultation paper on Combined Authorities with a commentary on its limitations. . 

A motion by Councillor Aaron Shotton was then circulated to Members and was formally seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge.  The motion read as follows:-

“In the interests of the provision of local government services within our County, this Council seeks an urgent meeting with both the Welsh Government Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Finance to discuss the availability of transitional finance, support and a long term funding strategy in order to assist the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35