Former Carmarthenshire County Council leader Kevin Madge has expressed grave concerns over the proposed local government shake-up announced last week.

Welsh Government minister Leighton Andrews announced plans for the number of Welsh authorities to be reduced from 22 to eight or nine.

Both schemes would see the return of Dyfed, created by a merger of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, in a form all but identical to that which existed prior to the last major shake-up in 1996.

Mr Andrews said a reduction to eight – or nine depending on changes in north Wales – local authorities was “compelling” despite the Welsh Government’s own Williams Commission report advising strongly against such a change only last year.

Speaking in the wake of last week’s announcement, Cllr Madge said: “A return to Dyfed would be a disaster.

“It is impossible to have one authority administering east Carmarthenshire while at the same time administering Aberystwyth 60-odd miles away.”

“What the Assembly appears to have forgotten is that under the old Dyfed system there was a layer of six district councils, however that would not be the case with this proposal.

“It would take democracy away from the people and see councillors trying to represent massive seats. It would just not be realistic.

Councillor Madge said he feared that the likely outcome of the merger would mean that, thanks to the stranglehold that the conservative Independent Group holds in Pembrokeshire, the right would become the dominant force in Dyfed for the foreseeable future.

“The real danger for somewhere like the Amman Valley is that we will be governed by Pembrokeshire Tories for a very long time and with no likelihood of either of the parties which dominate in Carmarthenshire ever having any real power.

“It will be completely undemocratic.”

Cllr Madge also expressed concern over the costs of the shake-up – estimated to be in excess of £400million.

“The question of who will pay for the changes is yet to be fully addressed but it will almost certainly be local authorities,” he said.

“Over the next two years there is already going to be devastating cuts to council budgets.

“How can public services improve when there will be hundreds of millions of pounds spent on these changes; it is madness.

“The only guarantees with these proposals are that it will lead to an increase in the number of Assembly members and an even larger rise in council tax bills.”