THE leader of Pembrokeshire County Council has questioned the level of savings quoted from a shake-up of local authorities in Wales.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Public Services Minister, Leighton Andrews unveiled the latest plans to merge Wales’ 22 local authorities into eight or nine.

Under the plans Pembrokeshire County Council would merge with neighbouring Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, in a return to a Dyfed-style authority.

Mr Andrews claimed that £650m would be saved by the mergers.

But Pembrokeshire County Council leader Jamie Adams, questioned the impressiveness of the savings quoted.

“The figure quoted by the Minister that mergers in local government could save £650 million over ten years is not quite as impressive as it seems at first glance,” he said.

“Pembrokeshire County Council’s own mid-term budget projects savings of some £78 million over six years - and that’s just one local authority out of 22 in Wales.

“Do the maths and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that £650 million turns out to be a little underwhelming.”

Pembrokeshire County Councillors have been almost unanimous in their rejection of mergers, claiming county residents would see a huge hike in council tax.

The Welsh Local Government Association said around 2,000 jobs would be lost through the re-organisation which is unlikely to happen before 2020.

The WLGA added: “Any predicted savings may therefore be almost a decade away and will not remedy the enormous financial challenges we face over the next five years.”

Part of those pressures are set to be unveiled today when the Chancellor’s spending review is delivered.