The Number of Councils in Wales

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:24 pm on 9 October 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:24, 9 October 2019

That's just not how it works. What we believe in is that democracy should be as close to the people as humanly possible, for the decisions to be made as close to the people as is possible. I'm very surprised, given your background, Mark Reckless, that you don't concur with me that that kind of subsidiarity is what we should be looking for in local democracy. So, what we say is that one size certainly does not fit all; it doesn't fit all in any arrangement across Wales. Local authorities work hard to deliver services across a range of different mechanisms and different sizes, and, as I say, there is no evidence at all from anywhere that says that one size of a local authority is always more effective and more efficient than any other size. What we are doing is working very closely with the WLGA and local government leaders, through the local government sub-group of the partnership council, to develop a mechanism to support regional working and collaboration where that's appropriate, to reduce complexity for the authorities delivering different kinds of regional working arrangements, and to ensure that the decisions are made as close to the local people as is possible for effective and efficient democracy.