Alex Aldridge

Welsh councils should reform and become an "effective fighting force", a leading figure in local government has said.

Speaking to ePolitix.com, Welsh Local Government Association chairman Alex Aldridge said that councils must work more closely and not be "frightened" of sharing information.

His comments came in an interview to make the launch of ePolitixLocal, a range of new services from ePolitix.com.

Aldridge, who is also leader of Flintshire council, said that the levels of frustration among local authorities had to be tackled.

"We have to change as an association. We can't go through the throws of what we witnessed for the previous four years," he told this website.

"The levels of frustration within the WLGA and the inability of us to be an effective fighting force driving forward an agenda where people could resonate with us has made it clear we must deal first of all with local government itself.

"We have to look at where our strengths and weaknesses are, look at the databases, shared information and get the very best out. And if another authority is better than us then don’t be frightened of sharing that information."

Closer links

Aldridge added that councils should pool resources with one authority leading a group on a particular area.

"The time has come now when certain councils must be the lead authority in the provision of a number of these key complex areas, and to that end I’m delighted that the association are embracing and recognising that need," he said.

"The fact is that a number of authorities will be leading under a collaborative umbrella needed for three, four, five authorities or even just next door, so that agenda is now very much alive.

"The way that is structured could be a north, mid and south regional provision, but it could be a next door provision, it could be an all-Wales provision.

"Lets look at the issues of energy because that’s another we were talking about, we were talking that the biggest agenda we’ve got is waste management, and that was another one on the video link."

He added that the areas where co-operation could be extended include waste management, energy and out-of-county school places.

The WLGA chief sad that "now we need to work that up and find a process of finding out who, where and how".