THE Welsh government and common sense agree that 22 is too many authorities for Wales. It means just too much policy and admin duplication. You don’t need 22 sets of bosses for every department of civic activity with their salaries, offices and support staff.

It is the age of cuts, we are losing culture and sport as if it was no longer needed, care and roads are crumbling.

The bosses cannot be immune to the axe.

Labour has put the county of Pembrokeshire on death row, only Plaid Cymru has a different plan.

Plaid believes there is too much wrong with democracy, changing boundaries - yet again - is not the place to start.

Instead it is the sleepy community councils that need to change first, to start working with their neighbours, receive money and responsibility and wake up to real community empowerment and democracy.

Will it work? Well just look at our experience especially in Pembrokeshire.

Community empowerment has stopped many developments, rightly or wrongly, it has changed planning in Wales to allow new categories of homes, it has taken over a theatre, swimming pool, oceanarium, visitor centres and run them better with voluntary teams, it has set up new businesses and facilities. Yes it works, inspirationally.

Only then do we need to decide the best size for regional administrations.

22 education authorities is a recipe for duplication, mis-spending, and bungling as we know from experience.

Our council has its talents though.

We have more innovative transport solutions than many others, Richards Brothers is one of the better local bus services, in demand in neighbouring counties.

We have forward looking energy managers. It may be that each authority will hand over its weak areas to those with a more impressive track record, creating regional combined authorities.

But Plaid Cymru would consult before deciding exactly how many regional combined authorities there could be, and which services could be delivered between five and seven times in Wales rather than 22 different times.

And consult does not mean, we make a plan then ask you what you think of it, you tell us then we tell you what we will do whether you like it or not.

That is vertical democracy and it is as obsolete as operator run phone systems.

Horizontal democracy means people and government consult with each other to reach shared agreement.

The huge challenges we face simply cannot be met by the old approach, not in our connected age.

Restructuring should not be imposed in the wrong way by a minority, the decisions are too important and disruptive to get wrong.

Vicky Moller

Plaid candidate for mid and West Wales