A CONSULTATION has begun into proposals to merge Gwynedd Council with Anglesey and Conwy.

The Draft Local Government (Wales) Bill, published on Tuesday, puts forward proposals to merge councils across Wales in order to save money.

Under the bill, the current 22 councils will be merged into 8 or 9.

The Welsh Government claims the mergers will save £650 million, but as many as 1,900 jobs could be lost across the country.

For Gwynedd, two potential scenarios have been suggested.

The first will see the Isle of Anglesey and Gwynedd merging into a single political entity whereas the second option will see Gwynedd, the Isle of Anglesey as well as Conwy banding together in a formation similar to the old boundaries of Gwynedd and Clwyd.

The draft bill is the start of a formal consultation process on the proposals for local authority mergers announced earlier this year.

Views are sought on the proposed structure, including whether there should be two or three councils serving North Wales.

The consultation closes on 15 February 2016.

The bill is scheduled to be introduced to the Assembly in Autumn 2016, and is being published in draft form in order to seek a wide range of views on the proposals between now and February next year.