Having looked at how local government in Wales has got to where it is, next it’s worth examining how local government in Wales operates.
When you think “local government”, what will likely come to mind immediately are the elected councils – but it doesn’t end there.
There’s a tier of community and regional government that you may not even know exists or you probably don’t give a second thought to.
Some have long been abolished – Health Authorities, Water Boards, Regional Transport Consortia and Electricity Boards, for example. Others are informal or organic and have been formed out of communities themselves; some have been created by new laws.
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The WLGA, One Voice Wales & Partnership Council of Wales
Wales has two representative bodies for the local government sector.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), founded in 1996, represents the interests of the 22 unitary authorities, 3 fire authorities and 3 national parks authorities.
The WLGA has a national council and board to make decisions in policy areas of collective interest. Under local government partnership arrangements, the WLGA is the recognised “voice of local government” in negotiations with the Welsh Government and UK Government. As a result, it’s become a very powerful lobbying organisation – in both a good way and a bad way.
The Williams Commission reforms/council mergers met a lot of resistance from the WLGA (effectively scuppering it), but they’ve also fought their corner on local government financing which perhaps limited the impact of austerity on local government in Wales when compared to England during the early 2010s (Part III).
The second representative body is One Voice Wales for the town and community council sector. It was formed in 2004 following the merger of NALC Cymru and the Welsh Association of Town & Community Councils.
One Voice Wales has a slightly different role compared to the WLGA in that its focus is more on improvement, guidance and training. Many town & community councils don’t have suitably qualified staff to provide complex advice, so One Voice Wales often provides legal advice and alike as a consultancy.
All elements of local government in Wales – county/borough councils, town & community councils, national parks authorities, fire authorities, health boards, police & crime commissioners and the Welsh Government itself – are members of the Partnership Council of Wales. The Partnership Council meets a few times a year to “encourage joint working between the Welsh Government and local government”.
The Watchdogs
There are several organisations in Wales responsible for monitoring the performance of and standards in local government, whether that’s local government as a whole or a particular service area.
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