THE Welsh Government has been accused of 'wasting public money' after it was revealed plans which could have seen cuts in the number of councillors in Torfaen and Monmouthshire have been scrapped.

In a statement issued on Monday public services minister Leighton Andrews announced recent electoral reviews carried out in nine areas of Wales - including Torfaen and Monmouthshire - by the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales would not be implemented, despite being complete.

The reviews, which are carried out on a regular, cyclical basis, had recommended the number of members on Torfaen County Borough Council should be cut from 44 to 40, with Monmouthshire County Council’s membership dropping from 43 to 41 in the forthcoming local government election.

But Mr Andrews said he had made the decision to disregard the changes in the wake of the in-progress Local Government (Wales) Bill, which could see the 22 councils in Wales merged into eight or nine larger authorities, including a so-called ‘Super Gwent’ encompassing Newport, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire

“The Welsh Government’s programme of reforming local government has meant the commission has suspended its ongoing review programme in anticipation of further directions for initial reviews of proposed new areas,” he said.

“I am therefore mindful that the electoral reviews that have been completed only relate to nine out of the 22 Local Authorities and would only be applicable for the local government elections in 2017, and have effect only for a three year period.”

Although the Monmouthshire review was completed in February 2011 and the Torfaen in December 2013, the proposed changes had not yet been put into place.

The decision has been slammed by the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The party’s shadow local government minister Peter Black said: “The last of these reviews finished in 2014.

“If Labour ministers had got their act together sooner and halted these reviews once they’d decided to reorganise local government, we could have saved thousands of pounds for the public purse and avoided an ultimately unnecessary piece of work.”

The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales is funded directly by the Welsh Government. Its government grant for the 2014-15 financial year was £434,176, although this was 15 per cent, or £73,993, lower than the previous year.

Reviews in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Pembrokeshire have also been scrapped, while another in Powys has been delayed until 2020.