Link-up of top brass as councils battle against massive deficits

THE most senior tier of management at one of Yorkshire’s largest councils is holding talks with counterparts at another authority to streamline services amid a battle to contain deficits totalling nearly £100m.

North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed that it is involved in talks with Selby District Council to try and tackle the yawning chasm both authorities are facing in their budgets.

In a watershed for the two authorities, it has been announced that the district council’s chief executive, Martin Connor, will be working at County Hall for two days a week up until the end of March.

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The move is aimed at sharing knowledge and expertise between the two councils amid plans for them to collaborate closely on delivering services in the future, and the set-up will be extended if the initial trial proves a success.

Representatives from both authorities were adamant that they are entering into the project on an equal footing, with each retaining their own chief executive.

However, Mr Connor will become a designated assistant chief executive at County Hall, although there will be no extra cost to taxpayers.

The leader of the county council, Coun John Weighell, said: “Both authorities face some significant financial pressures and by working closely with one of our district councils we are hoping that this project will prove what can be achieved with better collaboration – improving how we deliver services to residents in the Selby area, whilst making best use of taxpayers’ money.”

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The project will involve analysing the back office operations as well as the delivery of frontline services at both authorities, although the exact details of which departments will be involved has yet to be disclosed.

Selby District Council confirmed yesterday that it is hoped the proposed overhaul at the two councils would ensure there is a bigger pool of employees to draw on, and stressed that there are 
no plans to make any redundancies.

The county council is in the middle of a four-year programme to slash its spending by £69m by 2014/15 amid the Government’s austerity drive.

But a further council tax freeze and further changes to the Government’s funding are expected to mean the authority will have to cut spending by an extra £24m over the next two years on top of the £69m, making a total reduction of £93m by 2014/15.

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The Government is due to confirm this month the exact level of funding which will be provided from Westminster to the council, but plans are already being drawn up as to where the savage cuts will be made from the start of the new financial year in April.

Councillors have admitted key services such as social care and highways maintenance will be affected.

The district council is itself battling to make £3.5m in cutbacks across its own services, with £1m needed to be saved during the next financial year alone.

The council’s leader, Coun Mark Crane, said: “This is an opportunity for closer working between the two councils and is the next logical step to the changes that we’ve already introduced in Selby over the last two years.

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“We retain democratic choice and accountability, but it makes sense to look at how we deliver our services together, whilst reducing the cost.”

The district council has already had to look to contract out its services as the authority attempts to cope with reduced budgets in the wake of the Government’s spending cuts. A private firm was appointed in 2009 to run the district council’s leisure centres, while another company was signed up in the same year to oversee refuse collections and street cleaning services.

The council announced three years ago that a third of its workforce – 80 posts out of the 222 full-time positions – was set to be axed to counter the cutbacks in the biggest shake-up since the authority was established in 1974.