There are fears that plans to scrap eight community and town councils across Pembrokeshire will switch people off from local politics. Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies has expressed his concern that local councils may be forced into merging.

He also says there's a danger that getting rid of grass roots politicians will make people even less inclined to get involved n community politics.

"By making community councils merge and turning them into much larger organisations, people can get disengaged from the local democratic process," he said.

"Politicians at all levels face an uphill battle to engage people in decision‐making and getting rid of community councils will not help," he added.

Boundary changes which could see the number of community councils and town councils in Pembrokeshire cut from 80 to 72 have been almost wholeheartedly approved by the county council's cabinet.

The changes could lead to 16 community and town councils being amalgamated to form eight new council areas. Pembrokeshire County Council's cabinet threw out plans to merge Neyland Town Council and Llanstadwell Community Council and asked the Boundary Commission, with whom the final decision rests, to look more carefully at four of the other proposed mergers.