MONMOUTHSHIRE and Newport councils should be merged, according to a report published on Monday (20th January).

By 2017/18 the 22 councils in Wales could be reduced to as few as 10 in a government re-shuffle that could save half a billion pounds over the next decade.

The aim of the Williams Commission was to gather and provide an assessment of how current arrangements are meeting the needs of the public, subsequently providing an "optimal model" of public service delivery for Wales.

Sir Paul Williams, author of the report, said: "This report examines all aspects of public service provision in Wales under five themes: complexity, scale and capability, governance, scrutiny and delivery, leadership and culture, and performance and performance management.

"We are very clear that public services in Wales face severe and prolonged challenges.

"We accept that change will not be easy. But the alternative is far worse.

"Without the changes we propose, we believe that Wales would see a progressive failure of services on which our citizens and communities rely. It is far better to invest in reform now, before it is too late, and to create a public sector and services of which we can all be proud, rather than face prolonged and ultimately unsustainable cuts to frontline jobs and services."

David Davies, MP for Monmouthshire, said: "I'm concerned by what has been suggested in the report for Monmouthshire.

"We are a very large rural community and our council knows exactly how to deal with this type of area.

"If we amalgamate with Newport I feel we'd lose out, and I'm not sure how good it would be for democracy as the majority of the votes would come from Newport."

Leader of the Labour group for Monmouthshire, Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, said: "We all know Newport and Monmouthshire have different demands and serve unique communities.

"At the moment, the report throws up more questions than answers and the devil is always in the detail.

"The Labour group in Monmouthshire will go through the details of the report and listen to residents before coming to a conclusion."

A spokesperson for Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) said: "We have now seen the report of the Williams Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery in Wales.

"The report is long and wide ranging and makes a number of recommendations that would have a major impact both on us an organisation and upon the communities that we serve.

"We will obviously co-operate fully with any reform to local public services in Wales and we believe that we have much to offer in creating better, more responsive services.

"Our immediate priority, however, remains the budget for 2014/15 which is due to be set on 27th February."

A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: "The council has received a copy of the report and will now review and consider its findings in detail before offering comment.

"Having completed a review of the report, we will be in a position to issue a comment on the council's view of its findings at a later date."

The report offered four suggestions as to how the councils could amalgamate, Monmouthshire was merged with Newport on every occasion.

According to the report the Welsh Government, local authorities and key stakeholders must "agree the programme arrangements for mergers by Easter 2014 at the latest."