The future of local authorities could be thrown into doubt because of the scale of the government’s spending cuts, a senior councillor has warned.

Councillor Andy Wylie, portfolio holder for resources at Watford Borough Council, said it was “plainly daft” for ministers to cling to an arcane system of local governance the country can no longer afford.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, he said, who yesterday announced swingeing cuts to central government grants, had “bottled it” by not introducing the kind of root and branch reform that is now necessary.

Councillor Wylie, whose authority faces a 26 per cent grant reduction next year alone, said: “Eric Pickles has bottled it. The obvious solution is to combine councils. It is the 21st Century and we’ve still got a system of council representation that we had at the beginning of the 20th Century.

“We have got to look at our structure again. It is plainly daft that we have so many different district councils doing so many different things.

“There will now be a very good case for a South West Herts authority combining one or more neighbouring councils [like Three Rivers District Council] “We need to think seriously about this because managing a council is necessarily a very expensive business. By combining councils you would save a lot more money.”

Watford and its surrounding areas are currently represented by a two tier system, with ten borough and district councils operating under Hertfordshire County Council area.

These authorities handle functions such as bin collections, planning, play and leisure services. Historically they were also responsible for social housing but, in many cases, have now transferred that responsibility to independent housing associations.

Hertfordshire County Council, meanwhile, is responsible for bigger budget departments like roads maintenance, schools and fire and rescue services.

Certain towns and villages are also represented by a network of parish and town councils sustained by a separate council tax precept for residents.

Elsewhere in the Watford Observer readership area, the grant reductions* are expected as follows.

  • Three Rivers District Council will see a 16.1 per cent cut next year (to £4.7million) and a 17.5 per cent cut (£4million) in 2012/13.

    Its spending power will be cut by 5.96 per cent and 5.24 per cent in the same period.

  • Hertsmere Borough Council will see a 10.7 per cent cut (to £6.3million) next year and a 12.8 per cent cut (to £5.5million) in 2012/13 Its spending power will be cut by 7.51 per cent and 5.73 per cent in the same period.
  • Dacorum Borough Council will see a 17.5 per cent cut (to £6.6million) next year and a 10.6 per cent cut (to 5.9million) in 2012/13.

    Its spending power will be cut by 5.5 per cent and 4.28 per cent in the same period.

  • Hertfordshire County Council will see a 14.3 per cent cut next year (to £234.1million) and an 11.5 per cent (to £177.6million) in 2012/13. Its spending power will be cut by 1.55 per cent and 2.29 per cent in the same period.

*Based on Department for Communities and Local Government figures supplied to one decimal place.