MONMOUTHSHIRE could be merged with Newport, Torfaen, Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent at council level in proposals that will reduce the number of local authorities in Wales from 22 to just eight.

On Wednesday 17th June, Public Service Minister Leighton Andrews published two sets of proposals – one with nine local authorities created and another with eight.

In both plans, Monmouthshire would be merged with the four local authorities listed to create one large council.

Mr Andrews said: "I want to emphasise this is not a final decision. It is the next phase in discussions.

"Following discussion of these options, we will publish and consult on a draft 'Mergers and Reform Bill' in the autumn. 

"The case for fewer local authorities in Wales is compelling and widely accepted. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to reform and reshape our councils to drive funding into improving frontline services. We will drive down the cost of politics and administration in local government."

The proposals follow on from suggestions made by the Williams Commission Report from January 2014 which said that a number of local authorities should merge, bringing the number down to 12, 11 or 10 councils.

This has been met with opposition by Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) as recently as October 2014, when both Monmouthshire and Newport County Councils had rejected proposals to merge with each other.

The new white paper's plans not only combines the two authorities but adds three other surrounding councils to create an area approaching twice the size of the current Monmouthshire authority.

MCC leader Peter Fox has commented on the new proposals, saying: "My position has not changed in that from the outset of this debate I have always maintained that while some reform of local government may be needed, the proposed approach of just merging councils is naive, simplistic and lacks vision.

"I believe strongly in retaining localism, local accountability and preserving a sense of local identity.

Mr Andrews also announced that the current cap of 75 elected members per authority would be removed due to the move towards fewer, larger councils.

This should avoid councillors representing an unreasonably large number of electors.

Mr Andrews continued, saying: "The current structure is failing to deliver quality services across Wales, with education services still in special measures in several authorities in Wales.

"Some authorities are simply too small to survive. The current system is costing council tax-payers millions on duplicated administrative services.

£151 million a year could be saved if all councils were as efficient as the best. We cannot go on as we are."

Mr Fox responded saying: "I do not believe that bigger is better. I do however think that some services could be delivered regionally and strongly believe that combined authorities or similar are the way forward, especially here in south east Wales.

"This model of governance would see huge economies of scale through many important council functions delivered regionally and this way forward could be established easily by building on the good relationships that are already established between the south east Wales councils.

"This approach wouldn't cost the many millions of pounds that merging councils would cost.

"This whole debate – one of moving the political deck chairs around – is a massive distraction at a time when councils are having to preserve services with ever decreasing resources.

"This debate only lends itself to unrest and to huge uncertainty for the people we serve and for the many people who work in the public sector.

"Over the coming months and years I do not want to see councils focusing inwardly as they deal with the huge complexities and cost of council mergers which will take the focus off the very important bigger picture here in Wales.

"The Wales Government needs to think again on this and should direct its attention to more pressing things such as driving real economic growth."