:00:00. > :00:00.the windscreen first thing in the morning. That is all from
:00:00. > :00:07.Welcome to Wales Today. Our top story: The map of Wales redrawn. A
:00:08. > :00:20.massive reorganisation of local authorities and the end of the road
:00:21. > :00:24.for some local councils. We need councils which are properly
:00:25. > :00:27.democratically accountable. They should have the critical mass to
:00:28. > :00:31.deliver in education and planning and social services. We're jumping
:00:32. > :00:34.in the Capri to go back to the 1970s. Haven't we done local
:00:35. > :00:37.government with big councils before? This is just the start of a
:00:38. > :00:39.difficult process that will affect thousands of people. We can expect a
:00:40. > :00:57.rocky ride over coming months. Our other headlines: Fred Pring may
:00:58. > :01:02.have survived had an ambulance reached him within an eight minute
:01:03. > :01:06.target, an inquest hears. At the other end of the country, an
:01:07. > :01:12.inquiry begins into the death of a man who had to wait for four hours
:01:13. > :01:16.in the back of an ambulance. This man has been called a dangerous
:01:17. > :01:24.criminal and the Home Office wants to deport him, so why was he sent to
:01:25. > :01:27.live in Newport? Good evening. A long-awaited report
:01:28. > :01:32.into the future of public services has recommended a dramatic reduction
:01:33. > :01:35.in the number of councils in Wales. The Williams Commission says a
:01:36. > :01:39.series of mergers should be carried out to cut the 22 local authorities
:01:40. > :01:44.down to a maximum of 12, but possibly as few as ten. Tonight,
:01:45. > :01:50.what it all means for your council and the services you use. I've also
:01:51. > :02:01.been asking the First Minister why change is the only option. First to
:02:02. > :02:07.our Political Editor, Nick Servini. I am in one of the grand old
:02:08. > :02:09.debating chambers for Wales. This used to belong to mid Glamorgan
:02:10. > :02:14.county council which disappeared in the last round of reorganisation in
:02:15. > :02:18.the 1990s. The not going to see the return of mid Glamorgan but to some
:02:19. > :02:21.extent we could see an element of a return to the past with the creation
:02:22. > :02:27.of a much bigger councils across Wales. That will ring it concerns
:02:28. > :02:33.about public democratic accountability, concerns about cost
:02:34. > :02:37.and concerns about the quality of public services. That will bring
:02:38. > :02:42.with it. Put all this be about to change?
:02:43. > :02:47.After being talked about for years and analysed in detail over the past
:02:48. > :02:50.eight and is, a vision to reorganise our local councils is being
:02:51. > :02:54.published. It is all aimed at improving public services. The
:02:55. > :02:58.Williams commission believes the current 22 should be reconfigured
:02:59. > :03:04.through a series of mergers. Wrexham will join with Flintshire, Gwynedd
:03:05. > :03:09.with Anglesey, Conway with Denbighshire, Newport will merge
:03:10. > :03:13.with Monmouthshire, Cardiff with the Vale of Glamorgan, Lena Gwent with
:03:14. > :03:19.Torfaen and Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Tydfil,
:03:20. > :03:23.Bridgend with Neath Port Talbot, Swansea and Carmarthenshire will
:03:24. > :03:28.stay as individual councils, but Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire will
:03:29. > :03:31.merge. That makes 12 separate local authorities. But if that is still
:03:32. > :03:35.too many then one proposal is for Swansea the joint meet or Talbot and
:03:36. > :03:40.Bridgend while Carmarthenshire will merge with Ceredigion and
:03:41. > :03:45.Pembrokeshire to recreate the old county of Devon. Ceredigion is one
:03:46. > :03:50.of the best performing authorities within Wales and it seems for us
:03:51. > :03:57.very and fear that we're going to see our efforts to you did. It had a
:03:58. > :04:01.mixed reaction in Haverfordwest. It rather depends on who you merge
:04:02. > :04:09.with. We must be a bit too small to work on our own. It is economies of
:04:10. > :04:14.scale really. There are 22 authorities and it is not still
:04:15. > :04:17.single. The commission know some of these recommendations will be
:04:18. > :04:22.controversial but it has talked about the urgent need to change, not
:04:23. > :04:28.only with the 22 and sustainable. It said some may collapse now because
:04:29. > :04:33.they are too small. There is bound to be resistance. Nobody likes
:04:34. > :04:38.change. Everybody has been working hard and some small authorities have
:04:39. > :04:45.done very well. But on reflection, it is pretty clear that many are
:04:46. > :04:51.just too small to cover the breadth of their responsibilities. There was
:04:52. > :04:53.no figure put on potential job losses but the commission believes
:04:54. > :05:02.reorganisation will eventually lead to savings of between ?60 million
:05:03. > :05:05.and ?80 million a year. There will be disruption because services will
:05:06. > :05:09.be trying to carry on running at a time when the organisations which
:05:10. > :05:19.provide the mark in a process of transition but in the longer term it
:05:20. > :05:24.is possible. But they will be an upfront costs. Williams claims it
:05:25. > :05:29.will be around ?100 million and much of that will be due to redundancies.
:05:30. > :05:36.Others say it will be greater. What we want to know is that we are the
:05:37. > :05:39.going to go down the process with cats and cutbacks and how are we
:05:40. > :05:52.going to pay for this? There are quite a few upfront costs. Something
:05:53. > :05:55.like ?200 million. The commission rejected proposals to hand over one
:05:56. > :06:01.of the most expensive services that councils provide, social care, to
:06:02. > :06:06.the NHS. But in Powys it recommends that the council should be merged
:06:07. > :06:09.with the local health board as it does not run any major hospitals in
:06:10. > :06:15.the county. The last reorganisation took place nearly 20 years ago. The
:06:16. > :06:22.hope is that if it happens this time around, it will last longer.
:06:23. > :06:29.Commissions come and go and I don't think it's going to happen because
:06:30. > :06:35.there is political consensus for change. All the opposition parties
:06:36. > :06:39.are pretty much saying the number needs to be reduced and one of the
:06:40. > :06:45.first things Carwyn Jones will do is to hold discussions to get
:06:46. > :06:51.cross-party support at the assembly.
:06:52. > :06:54.So could the plans improve council services like our schools, and would
:06:55. > :06:58.people be willing to pay more council tax to fund the merger of
:06:59. > :07:01.smaller authorities? One of the biggest changes could be in the
:07:02. > :07:05.Gwent area where three councils could become one. Paul Heaney has
:07:06. > :07:22.been to three villages there to see if a similar model to the 1970's big
:07:23. > :07:26.councils could return. Back in the 1970s, the Capri was the
:07:27. > :07:34.must have car and this was the music topping the chart. In 1974 the old
:07:35. > :07:37.Gwent County Borough Council was formed and then scrapped in the
:07:38. > :07:44.mid-90s in favour of the smaller councils we have today. But could we
:07:45. > :07:46.be better off in future and get better services from our local
:07:47. > :07:50.authorities if some of them were made larger and covered the kinds of
:07:51. > :08:02.areas the old County Borough councils used to cover? Here with
:08:03. > :08:07.the borders of Caerphilly, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent local authorities
:08:08. > :08:19.meet, how do people feel about the local authority perhaps merging with
:08:20. > :08:24.one of their neighbours? Blaenau Gwent is just one of six authorities
:08:25. > :08:28.in special measures for education which means they are not improving
:08:29. > :08:36.things quickly enough. I am in the south of the county borough to meet
:08:37. > :08:40.a headteacher and he lives nearby. The experts on education are the
:08:41. > :08:43.teachers who are teaching in the classroom so in a bigger authority
:08:44. > :08:49.you have teachers love a wider range of experience they can share with
:08:50. > :08:54.their colleagues. -- teachers who have a wider range. A larger
:08:55. > :09:03.authority may mean greater expertise but could small communities struggle
:09:04. > :09:06.to be heard? I think it would have advantages and disadvantages. At the
:09:07. > :09:12.moment it would be a worry to us that we would lose the connections
:09:13. > :09:19.we have already made. Over the last two years we have built up close
:09:20. > :09:30.connections with people in Torfaen. At the moment, I would prefer this.
:09:31. > :09:34.Down the road is Caerphilly County Borough which has lower council tax
:09:35. > :09:41.for band D properties than some of its neighbours but that could change
:09:42. > :09:49.with a merger. I would not mind paying more if the facilities
:09:50. > :09:59.improved. But it did not improve when we went bigger before. I would
:10:00. > :10:04.be glad to see the old council back. This was a trip through three local
:10:05. > :10:06.authorities likely to join together but the real journey starts when the
:10:07. > :10:09.Welsh Government make a decision on which route to take next.
:10:10. > :10:18.Well, earlier I asked the First Minister what was going to happen
:10:19. > :10:21.next. I have just had the report. The first thing is to consider that
:10:22. > :10:26.and for the other parties to consider that. We would like to take
:10:27. > :10:30.this forward on a cross-party basis. The report says quite clearly that
:10:31. > :10:39.change has to happen sooner rather than later. If councils want to
:10:40. > :10:45.merge now, what is stopping them? If that is what they wish to do, that's
:10:46. > :10:49.fine. We need an understanding first of all of the number of councils.
:10:50. > :10:53.Williams as suggested more or less what those councils should look like
:10:54. > :10:57.apart from in two areas of Wales where there is still an open
:10:58. > :11:02.question. What is important is that we have a structure that can
:11:03. > :11:10.deliver. When we are on the journey, we need the tools to do it. We
:11:11. > :11:14.already have the all Wales ambulance service and a number of small health
:11:15. > :11:21.boards that look after the health service in Wales. Both plagued with
:11:22. > :11:29.difficulties. Who says unnecessarily big is going to deliver? If you look
:11:30. > :11:33.at social services, they are difficulties in recruiting people.
:11:34. > :11:38.New people come in, they are thrown in at the deep end because there is
:11:39. > :11:42.no one there to mental them. You don't have that critical mass of
:11:43. > :11:46.people and that cannot go on in the future. We have planning department
:11:47. > :11:52.that can deal with everyday planning applications but the struggle when
:11:53. > :11:54.something big comes in. When it comes to education we've had local
:11:55. > :12:00.education authorities that have struggled for some time and one
:12:01. > :12:05.council had to be taken over. That is not a sustainable model. If this
:12:06. > :12:12.gets strung out until after the election it will cause enormous
:12:13. > :12:17.problems. I agree. The change that would be required would have to be
:12:18. > :12:19.by way of a bill. There are difficulties following the normal
:12:20. > :12:23.legislative processes of getting such a bill up and running and done
:12:24. > :12:30.by the next assembly elections in 2016. What would have to be looked
:12:31. > :12:34.at is whether there was a way of taking it through more quickly. It
:12:35. > :12:38.is up for government to demand that and we need to work on that. This is
:12:39. > :12:43.a change that needs cross-party support. But you are right to say
:12:44. > :12:47.that my preference would be that we deal with this quickly and that we
:12:48. > :12:57.have in place a structure by the next assembly election that can
:12:58. > :13:01.start to deliver. That does depend on all parties here coming to the
:13:02. > :13:06.viewers to watch process should be used.
:13:07. > :13:09.Unacceptable delays in getting an ambulance to a seriously ill man
:13:10. > :13:14.prevented him getting to hospital in time to receive treatment. That was
:13:15. > :13:18.the coroner's conclusion at the end of the inquest into the death of
:13:19. > :13:21.74-year-old Fred Pring from Mynydd Isa near Mold. His wife made four
:13:22. > :13:24.999 calls and waited eight minutes for an ambulance. By then, her
:13:25. > :13:30.husband was dead. Roger Pinney reports.
:13:31. > :13:34.48 crucial minutes. 48 minutes which may have made the difference between
:13:35. > :13:39.life and death for Fred Pring. 48 minutes during which his wife
:13:40. > :13:47.watched him slip away. Obviously there has been a breakdown of trust.
:13:48. > :13:50.That is how it has left me feeling. Fred Pring had been an active man
:13:51. > :13:55.working as a gardener before chronic ill-health forced to retire. When he
:13:56. > :14:00.developed chest pains his wife made a string of 999 calls. The first was
:14:01. > :14:05.a moment has passed one in the morning. The operator said help was
:14:06. > :14:10.being organised. Ten minutes later she called again. The third call was
:14:11. > :14:15.made just under 20 minutes later. The operator told her help was on
:14:16. > :14:22.its way. On the fourth call, she told the operator, my husband has
:14:23. > :14:26.just died. It's too late. A few minutes later three balances
:14:27. > :14:30.arrived. On the night Fred Pring died five blitzes were queueing
:14:31. > :14:43.outside Wrexham's hospital waiting to drop of patients. -- five
:14:44. > :14:48.ambulances. It is with deep regret we did not have a numberless
:14:49. > :14:52.available for her husband in time and we are working together with the
:14:53. > :15:00.health wards and Welsh Amblin service to ensure that our busy
:15:01. > :15:04.departments are available to those patients who need them most
:15:05. > :15:11.urgently. The coroner warned that without changes there was a risk
:15:12. > :15:15.more people could die. I don't say for a moment that there are not
:15:16. > :15:19.difficult days during the winter when there is a sudden surge in
:15:20. > :15:23.demand and it's very difficult to turn the tap of supply on quickly.
:15:24. > :15:28.There are some geographical hotspots we know we're further progress needs
:15:29. > :15:32.to be made. But the big picture right across Wales are undoubtedly
:15:33. > :15:37.is one of seven -- significant improvement in performance. This
:15:38. > :15:40.afternoon there were four and the list is parked outside Wrexham
:15:41. > :15:44.hospital but as far as we could see there were no delays off-loading
:15:45. > :15:52.patients. The coroner says he wants to prevent further deaths.
:15:53. > :15:55.At the other end of the country an urgent review has been ordered
:15:56. > :15:59.following the death of a patient who'd had to wait for over four
:16:00. > :16:01.hours in an ambulance outside the Princess of Wales Hospital in
:16:02. > :16:05.Bridgend. The local health board says the review will try to find out
:16:06. > :16:08.whether the patient's death could have been avoided. Our health
:16:09. > :16:18.correspondent, Owain Clarke, is here. What more can you tell us? The
:16:19. > :16:24.58-year-old man died last Thursday after being admitted to AMD. Before
:16:25. > :16:27.being admitted he spent over four hours waiting outside the hospital
:16:28. > :16:32.in an ambulance. The health board insists that the patient had been
:16:33. > :16:38.assessed during a doctor and that paramedics were present. They say
:16:39. > :16:44.there is no way of knowing at this stage whether or not the delay had
:16:45. > :16:48.any effect on his health. So that is why an urgent review is now
:16:49. > :16:55.underway. The coroner has been informed and the police are helping
:16:56. > :16:58.out and assisting. But these details along with what we have heard in
:16:59. > :17:05.North Wales, clearly cast light on some of the intense pressure faced
:17:06. > :17:07.by the ambulance service. The Amblin service says it is looking
:17:08. > :17:12.internally at all this but it would be wrong to put all the blame on the
:17:13. > :17:23.service itself. -- the ambulance service.
:17:24. > :17:27.You're watching Wales Today. Still to come before 7:00pm: In the
:17:28. > :17:38.relegation battle. Two managers with a job on their hands to keep their
:17:39. > :17:41.clubs in football's top flight. Newport MP Paul Flynn has written to
:17:42. > :17:46.the Home Secretary demanding to know why a violent gang leader has been
:17:47. > :17:49.relocated to the city. Mr Flynn says there's deep outrage that Joland
:17:50. > :17:55.Giwa, who ran a street gang in South London, has been ordered by a court
:17:56. > :17:59.to stay at a hostel in Newport. The Home Office says they opposed his
:18:00. > :18:13.bail and want him deported. Nick Palit reports.
:18:14. > :18:17.Joland Giwa's street name is Dexter. He was leader of a gang in Croydon
:18:18. > :18:20.called DSN. This video, posted on Youtube and aired at his recent
:18:21. > :18:23.immigration trial, shows him when he was just 16 boasting of his gangs'
:18:24. > :18:27.violent activities. Giwa arrived in this country on a flight from
:18:28. > :18:30.Nigeria at the age of ten saying he was from Sierra Leone. Now, branded
:18:31. > :18:34.a dangerous criminal, the Home Office want to deport him, but he
:18:35. > :18:38.has no identity papers and neither country recognises him as a
:18:39. > :18:45.national. Now, a court's sent him to live in this quiet street in
:18:46. > :18:50.Newport. The police describe Joland Giwa is a
:18:51. > :18:57.serious threat. Before coming to Newport, the gang leader served a 27
:18:58. > :18:59.month sentence for robberies and has been in immigration detention for
:19:00. > :19:04.more than four years awaiting deportation. Last month a High Court
:19:05. > :19:09.judge ruled it would be illegal to detain him any longer so he was
:19:10. > :19:17.released on condition that he stays at this hostel where electronic tag
:19:18. > :19:21.and that he reports twice a week to the UK border agency. But residents
:19:22. > :19:26.of York Place are furious that he's been sent to live in their street. I
:19:27. > :19:35.don't think it's good for the area. There are a lot of kids living on
:19:36. > :19:42.the street. It's pretty bad. It will cause a lot of problems. The local
:19:43. > :19:45.MP Paul Flynn has written to the Home Secretary saying there's deep
:19:46. > :19:49.outrage that a dangerous criminal has been sent to live in Newport. A
:19:50. > :19:53.view backed up by the local councillor for Stow Hill who's angry
:19:54. > :20:02.that people in the area were not consulted. I think as a local
:20:03. > :20:05.representative, I would have liked to have been consulted. The police
:20:06. > :20:10.may have had a good reason for placing him in Newport but I would
:20:11. > :20:14.have liked to have heard the reasons. In a statement the Home
:20:15. > :20:17.Office say Giwa will be subject to rigorous monitoring and they'll be
:20:18. > :20:20.continuing to fight for his removal from the UK. That's little comfort
:20:21. > :20:23.on this street in Newport where they find themselves with a neighbour
:20:24. > :20:27.they'd rather not have. A judge at Cardiff Crown Court has
:20:28. > :20:31.ordered a verdict of not guilty in the case of Thomas Doran, who was
:20:32. > :20:34.accused of slavery offences after a raid on a farm on the outskirts of
:20:35. > :20:38.Newport last September. The prosecution offered no evidence
:20:39. > :20:42.against Mr Doran. A man has been found guilty of the
:20:43. > :20:46.murder of Sam Blackledge, who died after being punched outside the Pen
:20:47. > :20:49.y Bont pub in Abergele in July last year. Anthony Smith will be
:20:50. > :20:53.sentenced next month. His partner, Tracey Jones, who managed the pub,
:20:54. > :20:57.was convicted of manslaughter. The First Minister has told MPs that
:20:58. > :20:59.a target of 2017 for a referendum on tax-varying powers is "ambitious".
:21:00. > :21:02.Giving evidence to Westminster's Welsh Affairs Select Committee,
:21:03. > :21:04.Carwyn Jones once again called for "fairer" funding for Wales,
:21:05. > :21:08.insisting that income tax raising powers would be of no benefit to the
:21:09. > :21:14.people of Wales until the current funding model is changed.
:21:15. > :21:17.The Cambrian Coast railway line may not fully reopen until mid-May
:21:18. > :21:20.because of flood damage at Tywyn, Barmouth and Criccieth. Network Rail
:21:21. > :21:23.says an aerial survey shows the line north from Barmouth to Pwllheli
:21:24. > :21:27.suffered the "most devastating damage" following the tidal storms
:21:28. > :21:31.along the coast. Tonight's sport now. Here's Claire.
:21:32. > :21:34.Good evening. There's not much between them but both of Wales'
:21:35. > :21:37.Premier League teams have been dragged deeper into the relegation
:21:38. > :21:40.battle. Cardiff City boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, insists they can
:21:41. > :21:43.stay up even though they're bottom of the table after losing at
:21:44. > :21:51.Manchester City. Swansea City are only three points better off, after
:21:52. > :21:56.losing 3-1 at home to Spurs. It is shaping up to be one of the
:21:57. > :21:58.most tense finishes in Premier League history and nobody in the
:21:59. > :22:03.bottom half is safe including Swansea City. They have not won at
:22:04. > :22:10.home for eight matches after Spurs beat them 3-1. The table is
:22:11. > :22:12.incredibly tight. Six separate the bottom 11 clubs and Swansea 's next
:22:13. > :22:17.four league matches against Fulham, West Ham, Cardiff and Stoke are
:22:18. > :22:24.against teams also fighting for their futures. It is a month that
:22:25. > :22:27.could make a break their season. Swansea are getting desperate for a
:22:28. > :22:34.win. No need for panic on the streets but anxiety levels are
:22:35. > :22:38.desperately creeping up. It is about time they started winning. We need
:22:39. > :22:46.results against the teams we are battling against. We've had a lot of
:22:47. > :22:50.bad luck with injuries. They need to start winning some home games.
:22:51. > :22:55.Cardiff City 's predicament is even worse. They are bottom. They lost up
:22:56. > :23:01.much as the city but two good goals and a 4-2 defeat was better than
:23:02. > :23:03.many clubs have managed at Manchester City. Despite losing his
:23:04. > :23:10.first two Premier League games, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he's they will
:23:11. > :23:16.stay up. But some observers believe he needs to bring in a top
:23:17. > :23:21.goal-scorer. He has got a big signing to make and he needs
:23:22. > :23:26.somebody who can get some goals. If they can get an extra striker or
:23:27. > :23:29.somebody with Premier League experience to get than ten or 12
:23:30. > :23:32.games before the end of the season, that could lead the difference
:23:33. > :23:39.between survival and going down. Their next match is at Manchester
:23:40. > :23:44.United where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a hero. For once he will be
:23:45. > :23:47.desperate for his old club Toulouse. Welshman Elfyn Evans finished sixth
:23:48. > :23:49.on his debut in the Monte Carlo Rally. The 24-year-old from
:23:50. > :23:52.Dolgellau survived treacherous conditions on the final night to
:23:53. > :23:56.bring his Ford Fiesta home safely. He said he was delighted with his
:23:57. > :23:59.first outing in the famous event. The team travel to Sweden for the
:24:00. > :24:01.next rally which starts on February fifth.
:24:02. > :24:04.Rugby and the Wales squad have arrived in camp today to start their
:24:05. > :24:07.preparations for the Six Nations, but another injury blow for Warren
:24:08. > :24:11.Gatland tonight. Ryan Jones has withdrawn from the squad due to a
:24:12. > :24:14.hamstring injury. Wales are bidding to win an historic third outright
:24:15. > :24:18.title in succession but several senior players are facing a battle
:24:19. > :24:24.to be fit in time for their opener at home to Italy on February first.
:24:25. > :24:26.Derek's here with the weather forecast. How are things looking
:24:27. > :24:35.this week? Changeable. It's been dry today
:24:36. > :24:38.apart from a few showers. Some sunshine and light winds but there
:24:39. > :24:42.is more rain on the way. And if you're travelling, watch out for
:24:43. > :24:44.some fog and frost. Tonight, dry. Mist and fog patches forming with a
:24:45. > :24:48.fairly widespread frost. Temperatures in Powys falling as low
:24:49. > :24:51.as -2C. The wind picking-up in the west so staying above freezing
:24:52. > :24:55.there. Tomorrow's chart shows low pressure over the Atlantic. A front
:24:56. > :24:58.over Ireland. And that's heading our way. Here's the picture for 8:00am
:24:59. > :25:01.in the morning. A cold start. Some mist and fog, especially towards the
:25:02. > :25:05.border. Further west, breezier, especially on the coast, so fog less
:25:06. > :25:09.of a problem. The odd spot of light rain but otherwise dry. During the
:25:10. > :25:12.morning, fog will lift into low cloud. It may brighten-up for a time
:25:13. > :25:15.but rain will gradually spread from the west during the afternoon.
:25:16. > :25:18.However, places near and along the border may stay dry until after
:25:19. > :25:23.dark. The southeasterly breeze picking-up with top temperatures
:25:24. > :25:27.around 6C to 9C. In Pembrokeshire tomorrow, a dry start. Turning wet
:25:28. > :25:31.in the afternoon. Windy on the coast and on the Preselis with a high of
:25:32. > :25:39.8C in Crymych. In Radnorshire, mist and fog will lift. Dry until late
:25:40. > :25:42.afternoon and early evening. Feeling chilly with a high of 5C in
:25:43. > :25:46.Knighton. 6C in Rhayader. Tomorrow evening, rain for most of the
:25:47. > :25:50.country. Wettest on the high ground in the south and west. Around 20mm
:25:51. > :25:53.on Black Mountain. Much less rain on the north coast in Rhyl. Overnight,
:25:54. > :25:56.the rain will clear to a few showers. Wednesday, mist and fog
:25:57. > :26:03.patches will lift. Some dry weather and sunshine but showers as well.
:26:04. > :26:06.Thursday will be breezy. Some rain and showers. A little snow on higher
:26:07. > :26:11.ground, hills and mountains. Friday will start dry but there is more
:26:12. > :26:18.rain on the way with a wet end to the day. Turning colder and windy
:26:19. > :26:22.over the weekend. Back to our main story. A major
:26:23. > :26:25.report into our public services has recommended merging councils,
:26:26. > :26:28.bringing the number down from 22 to no more than 12. A final word with
:26:29. > :26:37.our Political Editor, Nick Servini. What's the message you took away
:26:38. > :26:43.from today? The publication of a report like this by implication is a
:26:44. > :26:48.damning indictment of the last set of reorganisation in the 90s because
:26:49. > :26:52.they have lasted less than 20 years and created councils that clearly
:26:53. > :26:58.the authors of this report thought were unsustainable. After the news
:26:59. > :27:02.conference this morning the author even floated the idea that some of
:27:03. > :27:08.the smaller councils in Wales may be at the point of financial collapse
:27:09. > :27:10.right now. As a result, there are problems. The authors were pretty
:27:11. > :27:17.scathing of what's happened and Welsh councils to try and share
:27:18. > :27:21.services. They protect -- the trade a picture of confusion and even not
:27:22. > :27:26.knowing how many partnerships were there. The other striking element is
:27:27. > :27:29.the time frame. That is a tight time frame and even talk of the Welsh
:27:30. > :27:32.Government having discussions with councils right now about the
:27:33. > :27:36.changes. We'll have an update for you here at
:27:37. > :27:39.8:00pm and again after the BBC News at 10:00pm. That's Wales Today. From
:27:40. > :27:42.all of us on the programme, good evening.