With severe cuts in local government funding on the horizon, could bringing many of the National Park's services back into County Hall be a way of saving huge amounts of money?

That was among questions discussed at last week's Welsh Local Government Association's annual conference, which saw around 350 representatives of local authorities, national parks, fire authorities and other public bodies meet to discuss a cash-strapped future.

Pembrokeshire County Council Leader, Cllr Jamie Adams, said there were some 'stark messages' from the Welsh Government in terms of funding.

Chairman of the commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery, Sir Paul Williams, who is undertaking a review of service delivery, spoke at the meeting.

"What he's looking at is cutting out a lot of duplication and one of the things he is looking at is whether there should be so many public bodies in Wales. He has a remit from the First Minister to review that," said Cllr Adams.

"Clearly there are some examples where a number of bodies undertake similar roles and clearly some thought will be given to the roles of for example, the National Park authority. Not the designation of the park but the fact that it runs a mirrored service to that of the county council."

Both Pembrokeshire County Council and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority provide a planning service, economic development and rights of way departments, with the park spending around £6million, much of which comes from council grant funding, said Cllr Adams.

"You have two organisations, two public bodies providing the same services within the same county. There are opportunities to look at reducing the tax burden on the public of those services," he added.

Before the formation of the park, 60 years ago, the services it provides came under the remit of previous local authorities, Cllr Adams said.

There are a number of posts at both authorities which could be examined to see if they could be delivered 'at best cost' and despite having two development plans there is no reason they could not be implemented alongside one another, added Cllr Adams.

Other areas of discussion at the meeting focused on the promotion of tourism, with three bodies currently promoting Pembrokeshire, and how savings could be made there.