The headline on the government’s press release politely says ‘‘Councils invited to fast-track local reform’’, but it is an invitation they will find hard to refuse. Councils have been given an ultimatum — three months to put forward plans for amalgamations for the government to approve or the government will impose its own plans. This week’s announcement seems to have been reasonably well received, possibly because it has the appearance of walking back the November proposals for a more prescriptive approach by the government. However, the threat of that is still there if councils cannot get their acts together within the three months. The government says there will be clear criteria used to assess councils’ proposals. Details of them do not seem to be available yet so it is difficult to know how, in the short time allowed, councils might gear their proposals to fit them.…