Ultimately its the chief executive's responsibility and therefore he should not be allowed to continue until all this mess is sorted out

Phil Owens

The Conservative AM for South Wales East has said ratepayers could be left with a huge bill if the High Court case fails.

Meanwhile the Welsh Assembly is taking legal advice on whether it can discuss the administrative oversight which has left all of the town's 33 councillors barred from office.

In a last-ditch attempt to prevent an election which would cost �30,000, three Merthyr Tydfil councillors led by the authority's former council leader, Ray Thomas, planned to go to the High Court.

They hoped to persuade a judge to overturn the administrative error which has thrown the authority into chaos.

Now they have been told that as they are no longer councillors, the authority cannot fund their action.

Former council leader Ray Thomas: Crisis moves to High Court

The action is to be led instead by the council's chief executive. All 33 former councillors have been called to the civic centre to be briefed on Tuesday.

But William Graham, the Conservative AM for South East Wales, said ratepayers could be left with a huge bill if the case fails.

He wants the issue raised at the assembly, but officers are concerned that could jeopardise any future legal hearing.

At the same time, one of the councillors stripped of his powers is calling for the Assembly to appoint an official to take over the running of the authority.

No allowances

Phil Owens, who represented the Dowlais ward on Merthyr Tydfil, said the current officers should not be allowed to continue.

The former councillors received a letter from the authority over the weekend confirming they were no longer councillors.

The letter also advised them they would not be able to claim any allowances or payments.

"The importance of this cannot be underestimated," said Mr Owens, who gave up his carpenter job when he was elected to the council two years ago.

"Ultimately its the chief executive's responsibility and therefore he should not be allowed to continue until all this mess is sorted out."

Mr Owens, who will now have to manage without his �90 weekly allowances, said he was writing to the assembly's Local Government Minister Edwina Hart to ask her to intervene.

Not "failing"

However, despite the demands of individual councillors, the assembly said on Monday it would not be appointing anyone to take over the running of the authority.

The assembly only has the power to take over an authority that is "failing" which is not the case.

Officials in Cardiff Bay insist they are happy the council's chief executive and his team can maintain the running of the authority until the question of the councillors' legitimacy is resolved.

All council meetings remain halted in Merthyr with a planned scrutiny meeting on Tuesday and a full council on Thursday both cancelled.

The authority must still prepare for the possibility of an election, which could cost taxpayers up to �30,000 and leave the town without a council until Easter.

Code of conduct

The problem stems back to last summer when the authority was modernised and brought in a new code of conduct.

Councillors thought they had until 21 December 2001 to put their names to the new code.

But an official drafted the resolution from the September meeting, so they only had until 4 November.

The mistake came to light when the local authority ombudsman was looking through the minutes of the meeting.

The official had written that councillors would implement the code "immediately".

But under the council's rules "immediately" means within eight weeks.