A PLAID CYMRU motion calling for Carmarthenshire to be retained as a unitary authority in any shake-up of Welsh local government was overwhelmingly passed at a meeting on Wednesday, (Apr 15).
Proposed by Plaid leader Emlyn Dole, the motion was the subject of a significant amount of self-congratulation from members of the ruling group, who appeared less concerned with the thrust and point of Cllr Dole’s motion than in polishing up the council’s reputation in case Leighton Andrews, the Welsh Public Services Minister, was watching the debate with bated breath.
Debating points were made that the period of uncertainty about the future of Carmarthenshire affecting inward investment to the county due to ‘instability and uncertainty’.
Proposing the motion, Cllr Dole mentioned, presumably ironically, that strong and effective local government was something of which Carmarthenshire could be proud. Appealing to history and heritage, Cllr Dole went on to slam the idea of a merger as something for which nobody had much appetite.
Most startling was the intervention by Cllr Kevin Madge. The council leader, in the teeth of evidence to the contrary in the recent past, he told the meeting that Carmarthenshire was the ‘best run council in Wales’. Mr Madge went on to wave the shroud of other, envious local authorities, picking over the corpse of the County Council’s prudence for the tastiest morsels.
Acknowledging the council’s record was less spotless than Cllr Madge proposed, deputy leader Pam Palmer nevertheless contrived to suggest that Carmarthenshire’s record bore comparison with other local authorities.
Hengoed councillor Sian Caiach rather spoiled the backslapping by pointing out that doorstep research by her suggested the council was regarded as ‘a basket case’. Cllr Caiach, who is the People First candidate for the Llanelli parliamentary constituency, indicated that the council’s reputation was not as simon-pure as preceding speakers had suggested. Moreover, she went on to claim that the overwhelming preference in Llanelli was for merger with the proposed Swansea city region, with Dyfed Mark Two second, and only 10% backing the status quo.
Citing the council’s legal travails, the adverse findings of the Wales Audit Office, the council’s lamentable record with the Ombudsman, and allegations of prying into members’ emails, Cllr Caiach suggested that Carmarthenshire was a poor marker against which to measure Welsh local government.
The council elected to endorse its record and vote for Cllr Dole’s motion. Whether it did so on the basis of Cllr Dole’s appeal to history and heritage or for less altruistic reasons is open to question.
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