Council mergers may hit services

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles is among a handful of Ministers who have already reached a settlement with the Treasury, and in an interview today with the Yorkshire Post, he is typically forthright in setting out some of his own ideas for saving money – among them demanding council chief executives take significant pay cuts in line with a reduction for which he has himself volunteered.

He says "ludicrous" local authority salaries for senior managers have gone "completely out of kilter with reality", citing once again the example of the Prime Minister's salary of 142,000 as a benchmark.

Quite why David Cameron's salary should be a target remains a curiosity since there seems to be no shortage of applicants for his position, whereas the running of some local authorities would suggest that attracting the best talent is a serious problem without pay incentives.

But Mr Pickles also goes on to propose that senior management should be shared between councils and even that a single

chief executive should run local authorities serving millions of people across West Yorkshire.

The move would certainly save money on pay. But it would surely put at risk the running of councils and in turn public services during a brutal period of cuts.

Should the cuts lead to chaos with potential impacts in areas as diverse as bin collections, home helps and road gritting, it is likely the public backlash will be felt as much, if

not more, by the Government rather than local council bureaucrats.

There will be scope for management to be shared across smaller local authorities, as has already happened with Craven and Harrogate district councils, but big savings required by local authorities will not come from merging a few top jobs – only from cutting services.

For this to be done effectively, it will need to be planned and managed. The populist and plain-speaking Mr Pickles clearly enjoys playing to the gallery but it his party which may end up paying the price.