15 October 2004
Northern Ireland's councils have reacted angrily to proposals to cut their number from 26 to just seven, as news emerged of the initial proposals of the Review of Public Administration.
The minister with responsibility for the review, Ian Pearson, has met with political parties to brief them on the RPA's report. Its recommendations will be formally published later this year.
The review proposes cutting the number of education and library boards from five to one.
The number of health and social services boards would increase from four to seven, to make them coterminous with the new 'super-councils'. Similarly, there would be seven district policing partnerships.
Northern Ireland Local Government Association chief executive Heather Moorhead said: 'We are strongly arguing against the reduction in the number of councils.'
The SDLP's chair, Patricia Lewsley MLA, said: 'We would not want any powers to return to local government.'
And Northern Ireland's largest political party, the Democratic Unionists, wants more services run with direct accountability to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
PFoct2004
