Two councils to share managers

Author: Local Government Chronicle - Sep 21, 2009

Posted in: Structures, Collaborations and Working Across Borders / Collaboration from the bottom-up / Local Government News

Bromsgrove DC and Redditch BC have agreed to create a shared management team led by Kevin Dicks and move to shared services.

This comes a year after Mr Dicks, Bromsgrove’s chief since 2006, also took on the acting chief’s role at Redditch.

Both councils said there would be “a reduction in the number of posts which currently make up the management teams”.

They expect a £1.2m initial saving and then an annual saving of £500,000.

Redditch leader Carole Gandy (Con) said consultants had suggested even higher savings could be achieved “but we wanted to be sure that we had the capacity to deliver good services throughout both councils”.

Bromsgrove leader Roger Hollingworth (Con) said: “With cuts in funding from central government and ever increasing demands on local authorities on service provision, shared services will put us in a stronger position to continue to deliver local, value for money services for customers.

“I can’t emphasise enough that these moves are not about political merger.”

Go to the original article here

• "Localis is fast gaining a reputation for pre-empting the localist agenda, producing thought provoking research and practical policy ideas"Anthony Seldon, author and political commentator
• "Localis’ commitment to decentralisation crosses party boundaries, and their research illuminates policy problems with new practical thinking"Prof George Jones, LSE
• "Localis offers a great blend of a passion for innovation, grounded practical ideas and unswerving belief in the possibilities of local governance"Derek Myers, Chief Executive, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

more