Having read the article a few times and as someone who has worked in Local Government for 20 years, there is I’m afraid an awful lot of jargon that is all too familiar in Councils across Wales. The cuts we face over the next 4/5 years are enormous and many of the smaller/less well managed Councils will struggle to survive.

Part of the problem is the complete failure for Councils to work together, despite all the talk of ‘Making the Connections.’ I am not making a party political point here as all are guilty of petty politics and ego problems; Jeff Jones’ South East example being clear evidence of this. Yet, there are examples of genuine success such as ‘Project Gwyrdd’ in the South East and I only wish there were more.

With my Unison hat on, I hope that Welsh Councils do not see outsourcing as an easy solution to their financial plight. Multi-national corporations can paint a very rosy picture of handing over services, skipping over issues such as standards of service, TUPE and accountability. The pressure for another reorganisation will grow in strength unless Councils can genuinely ignore political differences for the sake of their communities. We can no longer afford 22 sets of every service and the sooner we face up to this and share services more effectively, the better.

The rhetoric a la Beecham is always about the need to save money through collaboration and how Wales some how is uniquely placed to do this. The reality is, of course, often very different. Look at the South East Wales shared service project which started with 10 authorities and is now down to 5 with the largest of the remaining authorities RCT only prepared to take part if the HQ for the new organisation is based in RCT. The consultant’s reports also show that for the project to work there is a need for a large injection of capital from all 5 authorities and any savings will not be seen until year 7 of any new joint service in HR. As for the Local Service Boards I’m sure that all the members enjoy attending the meetings but where are the measured outcomes so far? Probably judgement on their effectiveness or otherwise needs to be reserved until perhaps there has been an independent audit of their activities so far.

I look forward to future contributions which will set out how Welsh local government is expected to cope with the expected 10 to 15% cut back in its finances over the next four years.

On Council tax I’m sure that many people in Wales will be asking why some authorities are already talking of council tax increases of over 4% when in London most authorities are freezing council tax this year.

I was particularly struck by “I often hear it said that people don’t mind who delivers the services so long as they are good. I don’t agree. I think that people rely upon and trust their council. I think people want to be assured that their councils will always be there for them, providing essential services and community leadership.” Clear and reassuring.

But it was also interesting to note that local service boards are seen as continuing to be important building blocks (this was a matter of debate during the Labour leadership election) and that Outcome Agreements are on the way. Both of these are topics this column will return to.

Over on Freedom Central, Welsh Lib Dem local government spokesperson Peter Black offers a critique of this column: “[Carl} says that services must identify and respond to the needs of local citizens and communities in sustainable and equitable ways. What he does not do is to explain how this can be achieved with reducing resources.”

His comments are here: http://www.freedomcentral.org.uk/2010/01/adversity-or-partnership.html

As ever, good to see WalesHome.org articles promoting debate on our site and on others.