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Agenda item

To submit the report of the Leader  (to follow).

Minutes:

Submitted - the Leader's report inviting a discussion on a series of principles the Council should adopt in terms of any future discussion so that a response to the consultation paper could be formulated which was consistent with the Council's viewpoint.

 

During the discussion, it was noted that:-

 

·         It was not possible for community councils to take on more responsibilities without increasing their precepts, and in turn, this would place an additional financial burden on families that were already finding it difficult to cope.

·         Some community councils were likely to be more willing to help than others and how could this be resolved?

·         It was a difficult time to realise these proposals as there were more cuts and challenges on the horizon.  Also, the process of merging councils was costly and it was unclear where money for that would come from.

·         No evidence was seen that merging would be better than the current system.

·         It was a shame that the Williams Commission had not examined the public sector in its entirety.

·         There was an opinion that Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board was too large and that this was why it faced so many problems.  If they had to merge, it should be done so in a meaningful and relevant manner for our citizens.

·         Merging councils and centralising everything would deprive people across Wales of the power to make decisions locally and that collaboration between authorities was the way forward.

·         The document was very vague.  The contents could be interpreted in a number of different ways, more direction was needed and the aims should be clearer. 

·         The document focused on merging instead of collaborating.

·         A radical change in how community and town councils in Wales worked was needed, with consideration give to the type of powers they required in order to act for their communities.

·         A concern regarding the impact of cuts on the third sector and the need to drive a clear message to the Boundary Commission and the Government stating that the time had come to end re-organisation and to collaborate and focus on people within our communities.

·         Gwynedd Council was very willing to listen to the voice of young people. 

·         The principle of a voluntary merger with Isle of Anglesey County Council instead of being forced to merge with more councils was supported.  This would save money and avoid the duplication of work and it must also be borne in mind that many existing councils had a larger population than Gwynedd and Anglesey combined.

·         There were arguments in favour of merging councils and savings could possibly derive from it, but more evidence of this would initially need to be seen.

·         Too many orders came from the centre, and councils themselves should be free to decide what the best arrangement was, be it a merger or collaboration with others, and also the level of any collaboration.

·         If the government moved further away from the people as a result of merging county councils, a more intimate layer of government must be ensured, namely the community councils, but it was believed that they would not be able to cope with providing services as things stood at present.  Therefore, the question of merging was also possible in that regard.

 

RESOLVED to adopt the principles.

 

Supporting documents: