Do you really solve a problem by having fewer deckchairs?

The frequency of ministerial denials and/or references to joint working arrangements signals to the rest of us a restless intent within Cardiff Bay – or more probably Cathays Park – to slice and dice Welsh local authorities into something more manageable efficient. After all, that's what real governments do, isn’t it?

Another argument however is that the presence of icebergs on the radar is usually a good indicator that it's time to stop rearranging the euphemistic deckchairs and start considering how they could be made seaworthy.

Collective hindsight agrees that Welsh LG reorganisation of 1995 was a pig’s breakfast. As ever, ministers claimed it was all about accountability (it always is) and greater efficiency (which never happens). The initial stages were boycotted by councils & trade unions who convinced themselves the worst would never happen. By the time they engaged, the sole strategic consideration was making sure you got your own office or at least a desk by the window. Things haven’t changed much.

The emergence of 22 all-purpose unitary bodies is said to be related to the procession of MPs who slunk into Welsh Secretary David Hunt’s office to raise no objections provided their own constituencies were left untouched. No-one’s memoirs have ever actually quite confirmed this story but the near-coterminous nature of local government and parliamentary boundaries does lend it some credence.

So here we are sixteen years later and still the machine doesn’t seem to work as well as predicted. You could say it’s all thanks to financial straight-jacketing or successive loading of duties & statutory obligations ranging from waste management to well-being. Then again, you can argue that “executive arrangements” brought about by the Local Government Act 2000 have entrenched political hierarchies so that any real structural change from within is unlikely (and unacceptable). Either way, a perception widely held by the outside world is that local authorities in Wales have never been so complicated, so cumbersome or less relevant to the day-to-day needs of the communities they serve. An unfair assessment perhaps, but does it matter?

Ministers are said to be increasingly convinced that the answer is to take another crack at making local government cheaper (and therefore better) without the gimmicky addition of a directly elected mayor or police commissioner.

Their favoured solution is to match up with a template based on the current health board structure. Unfortunately there is no evidence that the LHBs work any more effectively than the hospital trusts & 22 health boards they replaced and the proposal smacks more of a desire for contemporary neatness than any proven demographic necessity.

A counties comeback?

Of course, an alternative suggestion - if it all comes down to achieving economies of scale – is to simply reinstate the eight county councils that existed prior to LGR. It makes greater logistical sense and would entail far less re-organisational angst among staff (although the councillors would probably go ape-shit).

Yet, and while it is probably too much to ask, it must be said that the nettle which needs to be grasped by Assembly officials, and the politicians they advise, is that it is the scope, as much as the size, of local government that needs to be addressed.

A local Swansea radio presenter is fond of posing the query why the city needs 72 councillors when New York only has twelve. In fact, the Big Apple has fifty-one city councillors but it’s a damn good question nonetheless. Especially when you consider how only ten people in Swansea actually make the decisions and the others are essentially onlookers but can get paid a handsome allowance for the privilege.

New York is a one hell of a role-model when you think about it – and it is run by committees. Of course, the city also has a directly elected mayor and the interrelationships, both in party politics and turf disputes, can be interesting. But can we afford to discount the real difference that eight professionally managed councils with effective budgetary controls, governance systems and joint constituencies of interest could actually have upon public service delivery in Wales?

How this all stacks up with other proposed changes to the political map is anyone’s guess. Our guess however is that a local government re-alignment rather than a renaissance will be the primary consideration for a Welsh government. Too bad.