WITH the deadline for responses looming at the end of November, the Vale council have just four weeks to decide on whether they can or will be proposing a voluntary merger with another council.

Big changes are coming to every authority in Wales and, as per the recommendations of January's Williams Commission report, the number of councils will be shrinking from 22 to 12.

The report recommends that the Vale of Glamorgan council merges with Cardiff Council, a move the Vale council has twice opposed - foremostly preferring to remain a stand alone council, but also declaring a desire to merge with Bridgend should a merger be imposed.

The other recommended mergers are Monmouthshire with Newport, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly with Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil with Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend with Neath Port Talbot, Ceredigion with Pembrokeshire, Flintshire with Wrexham, Conwy with Denbighshire and the Isle of Anglesey with Gwynedd. Carmarthenshire, Powys and Swansea would remain unchanged.

Following this report, newly appointed Welsh Government Minister for Public Services Leighton Andrews announced earlier this month that any councils that chose to merge voluntarily would be offered financial incentives to do so as well as being afforded the opportunity to merge more on their own terms and "determine their own future" than if they are forced.

The deadline for submissions has been set as Friday, November 28.

Mr Andrews said: "We cannot continue to operate with 22 local authorities. There will be change, voluntary or not, and I am offering a unique opportunity to those who are willing.

"I want local authorities themselves to make fundamental and lasting change to create modern and effective Local Government in Wales.

"I hope they seize this opportunity since those who agree to merge voluntarily will determine their own future and will not face elections until May 2018."

Cardiff City Council have declared an interest in merging with the Vale council and agreed to begin discussions with a view to submitting a proposal for a voluntary merger.

If Cardiff and the Vale merged, the combined populations of Cardiff's 345,000 people and the Vale's127,000 people would create a council responsible for a population larger than Liverpool and Bristol councils.

The number of councillors would also be dropped from a total of 122 to a maximum of 75.

A report that went before Cardiff City Council also pointed out that, in order to bring rates in both areas in line, council tax in Cardiff would need to increase by 2.1 per cent but drop in the Vale by 5.3 per cent.

So far, the Vale of Glamorgan council have twice rejected the proposition of merging with Cardiff pointing towards the massive disparity in both population sizes as well as the culture and values of both areas.

The Vale council have suggested that a merger with Bridgend Council would be a better fit for the area.

A Vale council report into the Williams Commission's recommendations says: " If the Vale merges with Cardiff there is a real risk that the Council could be seen as over large and remote from the people it serves.

"A merged Bridgend/Vale Council, whilst sufficiently large to be sustainable, will not be so large it becomes too distant from the citizens it serves.

"The nature of the areas of Bridgend and the Vale are similar in that both have significant rural areas, small distinct towns and villages, coastal towns and administrative centres and share a heritage coast.

"This contrasts starkly to Cardiff, which is a densely populated urban conurbation.

"There is a perception on the part of many people in communities in the Vale that decisions made by the former South Glamorgan Council were Cardiff-centric and that the Vale suffered from under-investment.

"Examples include a lack of school investment, particularly in the secondary sector, coupled with at that time having no Welsh medium secondary school in the Vale, and under-investment in highway infrastructure.

"Since the 1996 reorganisation and the establishment of the current Vale Council many of these deficiencies have been remedied. The Council has established a Welsh medium secondary school and has invested substantially in the schools infrastructure.

"It has also addressed infrastructure issues in Barry in particular, such as regeneration and public realm improvements in the Town Centre and at Barry Island."

The report also reiterates the Vale council's desire to "continue as a self-standing unitary council".

During a meeting earlier this year, where the Vale council first rejected the Williams' Commissions plans, many Vale councillors voiced their opposition.

Plaid Cymru councillor Ian Johnson said he believed that the Vale needed to retain its own identity and Llantwit First Independent councillor Gwyn John said that he believed the author of the report had "made a pig's ear of it", recalling the former South Glamorgan authority where the Vale had 19 representatives out of 80.

Cllr John said: “I dread to think what would happen to the Vale of Glamorgan and the residents of the Vale of Glamorgan. I don’t think anyone in this room would put themselves before the residents they represent.”

Vale Council leader Neil Moore called the proposal "a slaughter of local government which is not necessary."

The council's lone dissenter, Rhoose ward Independent Councillor Phil Clarke, has been outspoken in his wishes to see the Vale merge with Cardiff.

"We are grossly overmanned and considerable savings could be made by proceeding in the direction advocated by the Williams report and could be used to protect frontline services including libraries," he said.

"The council recently reported on the need to save £35m over the next four years and the potential savings from a voluntary merger could make a significant contribution towards that objective.

"Unlike Councillor Moore, I do not see a merger with Cardiff as an issue of comparable partners, for me it just makes sense to have links with a successful city.

"I can appreciate the reluctance of councillors for the Vale/ Cardiff merger as their numbers would be reduced by more than half. It could be argued that councillors against the Williams report and its proposed mergers could be voting in self interest to their pecuniary advantage.

"Cardiff is a dynamic city, modern and innovative and I would like to see the citizens of the Vale benefitting from being a part of that success."

South Wales Central AM Andrew RT Davies - leader of the Welsh Conservatives - has been vocal in his opposition to the merger plans and what he called the "bully boy" tactics employed by Leighton Andrews in trying to force councils to merge voluntarily.

“It is extremely unhelpful of the Minister to be using threat and coercion to drive through these unpopular plans," he said.