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Address by Roger Warren Evans to Cardiff Fabian
Society, Thursday 23 May 2002
Summary
(1) New Regional Councils should be created in
Wales, adopting the boundaries of the Regional Committees
of the Government of Wales Act; these should be created as new
free-standing local authorities, not committees of the Assembly, and
should become the principal local authorities within Wales, assuming
responsibility for all LA administration within the Region, deploying
existing LA staff; Regional Councils should inherit all the tax-raising
powers of local authorities;
(2) All primary local government executive powers
should be transferred to the new Regional Councils; their principal
funding should be by way of direct block-grant from Westminster, within
the framework of a new, revised “Barnett Formula”;
(3) Within each Region, community councils should
be developed as the primary institutions of community governance,
negotiating the draw-down of powers from the Regional Councils; no
constitutional change would be necessary, and there are 739 community
councils already in existence, with c 7,500 Community Councillors, and
that figure would grow to perhaps 10,000; Community Councillors would
remain unpaid, receiving only the reimbursement of expenses;
(4) The Assembly would retain all its functions except the internal distribution of public income within Wales, thus -
(a)
secondary legislation
(b) external representation
(c) liaison with
Westminster and Whitehall
(d) certain all Wales executive functions
(Welsh Development Agency, Wales Tourist Board)
(e) appellate jurisdictions
(f) cultural, language functions, including
broadcasting;
The Assembly would be funded by its own
separate direct-grant from Westminster, and should also have a new power
to levy all-Wales taxation by way of precept on the Regional Councils;
(5) Membership of a Regional Council would be made up of three
elements (a) Single-mandate Councillors, elected on a
one-per-Constituency basis, from within each Region; (b) the Welsh
Members of Parliament and Assembly Members, as full voting members of
the Regional Council, on an ex officio basis; this would mean a
total political salariat of 140, to service all three levels of
consitutional requirement within Wales, and each Constituency would
simply elect three full-time salaried representatives, together with
perhaps 250 unpaid Community Councillors
(6) The Regions of South East Wales (pop 1.45m) and South West Wales
(pop 650k) already represent viable regional authority units; it would
be desirable for Mid and North Wales to be combined in a new Highland &
Islands Region (pop 800k), but that would be subject to full negotiation
and consultation;
(7) These changes would -
achieve a significant reduction in the number of
salaried politicians within Wales;
create Regional Councils which would more
accurately reflect popular perceptions of everyday life;
herald a new expansion of community
governance throughout Wales.
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